Those who have witnessed Anna’s previous fasts in Delhi will agree that the crowd on Wednesday did not match his earlier outings.
While there were not more than 2,000 people till 2 pm at Jantar Mantar, it did not cross 4,000 even towards the end of the day. And many of them were passersby.
“I work in nearby NDMC office and often walk here for a smoke or something. The crowd was five times larger when Anna was here last year in April,” said Anil Jha, witness to many protests held at Jantar Mantar.
While some blamed the humid weather, others believe that Anna’s magic is waning. For some, Delhi has already witnessed too big a dose of Team Anna in the recent past.
But a hardcore Team Anna supporter blamed the weather. “I think there are about 10,000 people here and double this number is on their way to Delhi from different parts of the country.
However, many more people would have come had the weather been a little pleasant,” said 64 year old Amarnath, an Anna supporter from Meerut who had attended his earlier fasts at Jantar Mantar and Ramlila Maidan as well.
Another man, who had come from a Gautam Buddhnagar village, agreed that there were fewer people this time and an Anna protest was no longer a novelty for many.
“I could only bring in 20 people here. Almost everybody from my village had gone to Ramlila Maidan when Anna sat on an 11-day fast there in August.
However, since they have already seen Anna and a protest, they no longer want to come here now,” said Singh, adding that even he would be leaving in the evening due to some work.
