Support for Anna at IIM, IIT campus

BANGALORE: Young

people joined the

protest in their own

ways - some skipped

lunch, others joined

the crowd at Freedom Park and

Electronic City and

some even wore T-

shirts inside out. At IISc, many

students fasted in

support of Anna; 20

of them cycled to

Freedom Park from their campus and unfurled a banner

which had the signature of over 600

students supporting Anna's cause.

"About 200 students skipped lunch to

show their solidarity," said Pankaj Jain,

Integrated PhD student at IISc. Indian Institute of Management-

Bangalore students wore T-shirts

inside out. Mihir Mogre, who came up

with this idea, said "Any corrupt

system should be turned upside

down". Trilochan Shashtri, dean, academics, pledged to skip a meal

every day till the government agrees

to a strong Lokpal bill. Students from

IIM -Ahmedabad and IITs in

Gandhinagar, Guwahati and

Hyderabad set up an online petition supporting them. Engineering student from BNMIT

College Nikhil Bharadwaj said: "I'm

here because the authorities closed

the college as many students wanted

to take part in the protest. I want to be

part of the protest but I'm hungry and am searching for a restaurant. When

many students around him were

shouting 'Anna Hazare, Zindabad', he

shouted: 'Lokpal Saku, Oota Beku'.

Another college student Ankitha M

said: "I don't know much about the draft bill. It's a serious issue and want

to be a part of it." Students and teachers of Symbiosis

Institute of Media and Communication

were also present. "We think it's

important for students to be sensitised

to such issues," said Maya

Chakravarthy, director, SIMC.