Jan Lokpal, magic wand to root out corruption, says Hegde

Addressing a large number of people at the Freedom Park, he said: “The Prime Minister’s search for the magic wand should not be a long one as he has it in the form of Jan Lokpal bill.”

His 20-minute speech, which drew students from various parts of the City to Freedom Park, was received with frequent applause.

As the City witnessed spontaneous response to the clarion call of Anna Hazare to join the ‘second struggle of independence’, Hegde’s words turned on the fervour in every citizen present at the Park showing their solidarity with the mass movement.

Tech rally

In Whitefield, over 100 software engineers took out a rally from the SAP Labs office to ITPL via L&T before returning to the starting point.

“We believe that the Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by Anna Hazare is superior in terms of the content as compared to the diluted version of the Union government,” said Pradeep, a software engineer and organiser of the rally.

Traders in busy Chikpet, Balepete, Akkipete and surrounding areas too joined the movement against corruption. As many as 6,000 shops pulled down their shutters in the area to express solidarity with Anna Hazare and his team.

“Those who did not close shop today are nothing more than cowards. We have come together from Chikpet to show our support for Annaji. Corruption is seething in our system which needs to be wiped out,” said Narendra Singhvi, a businessman who owns an electrical shop. Lending support were also social organisations which came together for the cause.

At Sadashivnagar, a cluster of NGOs dealing with social issues and women staged a protest against the arrest of Anna Hazare. Hundreds of activists from the Kannada Chaluvali Vedike, Lions Club of Bangalore, Tulu Koota and NIMA participated.