LOS ANGELES: During his short stay in Los Angeles on August 24, India’s anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare attended a press conference at Radisson Hotel and the Meet and Greet at Torch Restaurant, both in Buena Park.
In his address to about 300 cheering NRIs and Indian Americans, Annaji announced that the movement for corruption free India will rekindle in the coming weeks. He requested NRIs to be part of the movement by providing technical support. Throughout his 40 minutes speech, Anna Hazare elegantly mixed patriotism, inspiration and humor.
While the crowd was chanting Vande Mataram, Jai Hindi, Annaji Zindabad, he mentioned that he will surely live to see the Jan Lokpal bill passed in Indian Parliament.
Anna Hazare and freedom fighter Gunavanrai Naik were felicitated by various social activists.
Before the Meet and Greet, Annaji attended the press conference. Answering questions, he said the traditional political parties have failed to bring the change needed.
He cited the example how all the major political parties opposed being transparent with their funding and exempted themselves from Right To Information (RTI).
In a petition given to him, NRIs appealed to Anna Hazare the need for “Absentee voting”, as it is not practical for all NRIs to travel to India to cast their votes.
Earlier Anna Hazare was warmly welcomed with flowers, patriotic songs and Indian flags by children of Rishi S’Cool and women volunteers who included Vishakha Purandare, Vijaya Kesari, Rupa Shethna-Shrimankar, Archana Sudamalla, SindhuHalvi, SundariC’Ganti, Nitya, Pallavi Adhav, Roopa Thakkar, Sapna Falak, Kiruthika Govindaraj, Tejal Pipariya and senior volunteer Kesav Patel.
In a unique gesture, Annaji felicitated the spouses of the social activists as often their sacrifices go unnoticed.
The event was organized by NRI Samay Social Radio. NRI Samay Vice President Sreekant Kocharlakota announced a new initiative called Dollar Drive, where the participants donate one dollar per month, and the amount will go to a charitable project in India, which is selected by an independent panel.
The event was supported by several organizations, including but not limited to People For Loksatta, Life Yessence Academy (LiYA) USA, North American Telugu Society, Los Angeles Telugu Association, Sanathan Dharma Mandir, Jain Mandir, Gujarati Cultural Society, Parama Shakti Peet of America and Indo American Senior Heritage.
India Post News Service
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