How the man for a genuine cause has become celebrity for the younger and older generation alike is evident from the trends in the online social media. As more and more people are pouring in at Jantar Mantar instead of just becoming a couch potato watching IPL cricket matches beginning Friday, the online space also reflects the same spirit.
Interestingly on Twitter, the words like #lokpal, #annahazare, #corruption, #Mera Neta Chor Hai and #Jantar Mantar are ahead of # IPL, which underscores a reality — that we love to watch cricket, but in a corruption-free environment!
The 72-year-old Gandhian has been on an indefinite fast for the past four days demanding that 50 per cent of the committee which drafts the anti-graft Lokpal Bill should comprise prominent civil society representatives.
Support is pouring in from all parts of the world, and on Internet it is a wildfire, literally.
The Facebook page, India Against Corruption, has more than 120000 likes as on Friday afternoon, while the Facebook event has more than 60000 attendees.
On the other hand the web page for the 'India Against Corruption' movement has a whopping 10,36,582 supporters so far, which is going up by every second.
Celebrities tweet for Hazare
On Twitter it is a flood of tweets supporting the Gandhian's fight.
“All d politicians need to do is stop... Start fresh. Give up illegal money. That's all. Earn our respect. Be honest or leave,” tweeted Anupam Kher on Friday, who was at Jantar Mantar in the morning, to support Hazare's freedom struggle and the 'Jail Bharo Aandolan', which starts on April 13.
“Faith is daring to go farther than you can see,” he said in another tweet, quoting William Clarke.
Incidentally, one of the top tweets on Hazare is from Indian Premier League match host Gaurav Kapur, @gauravkapur, which read, “Anna Hazare wouldn’t be fasting if our politicians didn’t ‘eat’ so much.” And he added in a lighter vein in another tweet, “Corruption has spread to every corner of India. Even my comp says Some files are corrupted on hard disk.”
Spare a thought for the starving man
On the other hand Omar Abdullah is concerned about the social crusader who is starving. “While everyone seems to be celebrating the “atmosphere” at Jantar Mantar spare a thought for the man starving himself for 3 days now,” he tweeted.
“This is a movement whose heart & voice cannot be ignored,” said Anand Mahindra, the MD of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. “We're 'argumentative Indians' so no surprise that CivilRights NGO's differ on Anna's demands. This shouldn't deflect us from his core purpose,” he added in another tweet.
Writer Chetan Bhagat, who is a trending word on Twitter, criticised the so-called critics of Hazare's movement. “People who call other people attention seekers, are usually the biggest attention seekers,” he wrote to those who termed the crusader as an attention seeker.
Uprising of the youth
Bollywood celebrity Priyanka Chopra, who is active on Twitter with 929,802 followers was happy that the younger generation is with Anna Hazare. “What’s remarkable is the uprising of the youth of our country in support of Anna Hazare. I pledge my support to this cause,” she tweeted.
If you thought only those celebrities are tweeting for the cause, you are wrong. As always it is the common users who are spreading the campaign everywhere — be it the real space or virtual space. And the sentiments of the common man is reflected in their tweets too. “We don't need many fragmented movements. We need ONE, BIG movement to beat the godzilla of corruption,” tweeted one user.
Yes, the tech-savvy youths know how to fight the reality called corruption using the space of virtual reality too!