Anna Effect Sweeps Mangalore: Students congregate in Thousands
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (PS/VA)
Mangalore, Aug 17: As many as 5,000 students on Wednesday August 17 entered the streets and protested in support of Anna Hazare’s campaign for eradication of corruption by urging the Government to implement the Jan Lokpal Bill.
With the increase in turnout of the students every hour, the protest seemed to break the record of any previous demonstrations over social issues in the city in recent years.
Student said they had come to the streets without any particular organization being called to participate in the demonstration. However ABVP flags were seen waving across the streets.
The demonstration showed the power of students and their urge to make a difference. "We are trying to change nothing more and nothing less than a whole system in the nation that is marred by corruption’’ a student participant in the protest said.
Unlike other ‘College Bandh’ days, students apparently understood the need for fight against corruption and did not straightaway go home or movie theaters rather came on streets, another student observed.
As the students gathered in front of Jyothi Circle, vehicular movements were disrupted. Police then diverted the route and allowed for the smooth flow of traffic.
In Udupi, students of Poornaprajna College, MGM College, Upendra Pai Memorial College, St Mary’s ITI Chitpady, Spoorthidhama Koteshwar, Government First Grade College Tenkanidiyoor and SDM Ayurveda College Udyavar, Patanjali Trust, activists of CPI (M) and district BJP staged protest, condemning the arrest of Anna Hazare.
District CPI (M) office-bearers Vishvanat Rai, K Shankar, Venkatesh Koni, Prasanna Kumar, Veeraswamy and Kaviraj, BJP state Yuva Morcha president Sunil Kumar, MLA Raghupati Bhat, ZP president Shankar Poojary, district BJP president Uday Kumar Shetty and others were present.