“Jan Lokpal make India's future bright. Please bring the Bill and save my country.” Thus read a letter from 10-year-old Sanjay Gaikwad — one of the 3,000 letters addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from Pune.
If Tuesday's protests were mainly against the government's arrest of Mr. Hazare and supporters, on Wednesday the focus shifted back to putting pressure on the government to accept the Jan Lokpal Bill. Youth came out in large numbers, participating in rallies across the city.
In Mr. Hazare's hometown Ralegan Siddhi, the villagers continued with the bandh. “Even people from the nearby villages took out a rally to Ralegan Siddhi in solidarity,” Sanjay Pathade, a school teacher told The Hindu . Schools remained closed in various talukas in Ahmednagar district.
Women in the village went on a daylong hunger strike, while later in the day, a symbolic ceremony for the “last rites of the government” was performed.