By IANS,
Panaji : Inspired by Anna Hazare, two young Goa-born men took off time from work and sat on a 24-hour fast here Thursday to support the activist’s Jan Lokpal bill.
Ashwin Naik, 26, who returned from a Caribbean cruise vessel and Siddhesh Kadam, a media marketing executive, both returned to their home Goa to heed Anna’s call for a revolution against corruption.
They sat cross-legged in fast at the Azad maidan here even as rains turned the badly mown grounds slushy.
Naik wanted to be a police sub-inspector in Goa a decade ago, but gave up the dream after he was asked Rs.7 lakh as a bribe, the ‘going rate’ for the post.
“I could do nothing at that time, I was a young boy. But Anna has shown us how to become men and fight corruption,” Ashwin told IANS.
An assistant security officer on board Carnival Cruiselines, Ashwin has dedicated his three-month vacation to the Anna Hazare movement.
“This is one chance we have to tackle corruption effectively. What is a three-month vacation for a good cause,” Ashwin said.
Siddhesh, 31, runs a media marketing company in Mumbai and says that campaigning for Anna’s cause in his birthplace Goa was his calling for the moment.
“I have taken time off my business for this. I know what corruption is. For media events, we have to grease every palm to get licences and clearances,” Siddhesh said.
Asked whether his 24-hour hunger strike will make a difference, he said that sustained fasts like these would pressurize the government.
“It’s not me alone. People across the country are fasting. These overfed politicians do not know the power of hunger,” Siddhesh said.