Food at 3 a.m. on first night at Ramlila grounds

Poori-subji at 3 a.m., performance for TV cameras and chanting of slogans amid rains — Ramlila Maidan witnessed a flurry of activity on the first night of Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption protest.

Mr Hazare retired to a tent behind the dais at around 10 p.m. last night but scores of protesters, including volunteers, stayed back at the spacious grounds throughout the dark hours though intermittent showers made them run back to the tents.

Those gathered erupted into impromptu sloganeering and singing patriotic songs at regular intervals but as the night grew older the numbers became thin only to increase as dawn arrived.

The ground was in bad shape as the rains spoilt the hard work of several municipal workers who had spent hours bringing it in form.

It was a sleepless night for policemen guarding the venue and the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central), Mr Vivek Kishore, made regular visits to the venue to check the alertness of the men in uniform.

At around 3 a.m., came the announcement that food has arrived at the venue for those gathered. The spread was — daal, matar paneer, rice, poori and sweets — and it came in big containers.

Some of the hungry policemen also joined over 300 Hazare supporters and were all praise for the “very good” food they were offered. “Food was really good,” said a policeman who was not sure that Lokpal alone will help in eradicating corruption.

“Public come to us with money to help them get out of trouble created by themselves. I am not sure that Lokpal Bill will alone help. Corruption is in our blood. Change within ourselves,” he said.

As dawn approached, people started gathering and some tried to get their one-minute of fame on national TV. A man came dressed as Gandhi while another painted himself in the colours of the tricolour.

Then came supporters of Ramdev at the maidan, the same place from where the yoga guru was bundled out on June 6 during his anti-corruption protest.

In between came policemen with a sniffer dog and handheld machines to conduct searches for suspicious objects in the ground as well as in the tent where Mr Hazare was staying.

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