Thousands of ‘invisible volunteers’ fromall over Tamil Nadu fasted along with Team Anna on Wednesday to express their solidarity with Gandhian Anna Hazare who is demanding the introduction of a stringent Jan Lokpal Bill for rooting out the cancer of corruption from Indian society.
It may sound bizarre, but the invisible or hidden supporters of this noble cause turned out to be government employees and they staged their fast in style.
“Employees of central and state government establishments fasted in their work places as they are not allowed to take part in such protest movements. It is against their service rules,” Bhavana Upadhyaya, spokesperson, India Against Corruption told DNA.
She said the government employees, both in the state and central sectors, attended to their routine works but fasted silently. “This is all they can do in the present situation. If they join as and fast publicly, they will be shunted out to Shillong or Meghalaya by their political masters ruling the country,” she said.
Moreover, the volunteers were unanimous in their view that not even one person from the general public should be affected because of the agitation, said Bhavana.
She said the IAC volunteers continued receiving hundreds of SMSs and emails from various parts of the state supporting Anna Hazare. “I'll compare this movementwith the Jasmine revolutions which we saw in Egypt, Libya and other West Asian countries,” said Bhavana who gave up her teaching profession in USA to join the struggle for a transparent and corruption free India.
Wednesday saw film actor Sarat Kumar and the young entrepreneur Sarat Babu joining the volunteers in their sit-in fast at Adyar. The touching scene was of course the fragile looking V Kalyanam making his appearance for the second consecutive day to be with the volunteers.
“It is my responsibility to join them because I am proud of my association with Mahatma Gandhi,” he said. Kalyanam, 90, was the personal secretary of the Father of the Nation till the day of his assassination on January 30, 1948.
According to Sarat Babu, support for the movement is growing by the hour in Tamil Nadu. “Today, the number of people rose by more than four times than what they were yesterday. The fact is that not a single incidence of violence has been reported from anywhere in the state shows how committed the volunteers are,’ said Sarat, an IIM-A MBA who spurned job offers extended by trans national corporations qwhich would have made him the highest paid manager in Asia itself.
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