CHENNAI: Two youths who fasted for 11 days in Chennai to express solidarity with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare, on Thursday asked activist Aruna Roy for protection to carry on the campaign as they felt disturbed by the murder of seasoned RTI activist Shehla Masood.
"If even a good RTI activist like Shehla Masood can be killed, we need guarantee against victimisation," Sharan Cheryn, who aspires for a career in the Indian Administrative Service, said. He was supported by Tamil Selvan, a trainee with a software technology firm. The duo said realisation had dawned that they had to act as a group to carry the movement forward.
Aruna Roy who heard them at an interaction organised by the city-based Prajnya Trust with the media and civil society members, agreed that activists needed to have some kind of institutional backing and reiterated that collective decision-making and action was the mantra of the hour.
The youth participants said they were confused about the conclusions to draw from Anna's fast. Aruna Roy advised the activists to fight smaller battles. "The energy you gain from the small successes will prepare you for the bigger battles," she said. The National Campaign for Peoples Right to Information (NCPRI) considered this lull period as a "time for reflection, consolidation and stabilising of the movement against corruption", she said.
Replying to whether the movement had lost steam post-Anna fast and government's response to place Jan Lokpal bill before Parliamentary Standing Committee, she said there is "no dip in the movement."
Roy said activists needed institutional backing and collective action and decision-making.
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