Anna Hazare invites people to register for jail bharo

New Delhi: Anna Hazare's jail bharo agitation for a strong Lokpal has been a hit with netizens with over 40,000 people registering for the protest within a day of the India Against Corruption (IAC) launching a website for it.

IAC has launched a website for people to register for the agitation all over the country. The website has state wise as well as city wise listing of the number of people registered for 'jail bharo'.

Team Anna member Kiran Bedi invited registrations on Twitter on Friday. "B a Freedom fighter agnst corruption Register for Jail bharo. Sms to 575758 or call 07303150500," she tweeted.

Over 40,000 people had registered for the agitation till 7 am on Saturday on the
 website www.jailchalo.com.

The website for the agitation starting December 30, is called 'Jail Bharo' (http://www.jailchalo.com/) and invites people to register for the protest in their respective states and cities.

The count of people who have registered for the agitation was 40,184 till 7:00 am on Saturday and the number is going up every second.

Anna Hazare and his team have rejected the Lokpal Bill presented in the Lok Sabha on Thursday and have announced to resume their agitation from December 27. Hazare will fast at Mumbai's Azad Maidan from December 27 to December 29 and will begin jail bharo from December 30.

The Government had tabled the Lokpal Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday even as MPs cutting across party lines criticised several provisions of the anti-corruption legislation.

While some MPs criticised specific provisions of the legislation, others asked came down heavily on the Government for showing 'undue haste' following the Anna Hazare agitation in rushing through the Bill.
Hazare and his associates called the Bill a weak one and claimed that it would not be able to tackle corruption. Hazare's close aide even went to the extent of saying that he had little faith in Parliament after the debate over Lokpal Bill in Lok Sabha.

"They say (MPs) 'have faith in Parliament'. My mother says 'have faith in Lord Shiva'. I now tend to agree more with my mother," Kejriwal tweeted.

Another Team Anna member and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi feared that the Lokpal Bill may go the Women's Reservation Bill's way as those in power are comfortable with status quo.

"What you are seeing is nothing unexpected. It may go the Women's Bill way. There is no unity, no consensus on the issue," she said reacting to the opposition from some political parties to the proposed legislation.

Bedi said the bill was hurting those in power. "It appears that status quo suits those in position and power," she said.