HYDERABAD: Indira Park rivalled India Gate as a carnival-like atmosphere prevailed, with denizens celebrating Anna’s ‘victory’, dressed in Gandhi caps and ‘I am Anna’ T-shirts.The tri-colour formed a recurring motif as 3,000 to 5,000 supporters played Holi and participated in an array of events on Sunday.The victory celebrations organised by the India Against Corruption was joined in by several small and large support groups that had formed in wake of Anna Hazare’s protest.“We feel the government has not accepted the demands whole-heartedly.It was done more under pressure and stand a chance of being diluted.We will try to maintain the platform and enrol more volunteers, who will be ready to participate in another agitation to see the bill through,” said K Madhusudan Rao, of the Hyderabad chapter of IAC.The event which started at 3 p.m was marked by speeches, patriotic songs and resounded with chants of Bharat Mata Ki Jai.“I have never seen so many people come out in support of a single cause.It feels like India has been reborn, like a second Independence Day,” said Harika Pidikiti, from the Team Anna group.While candle-light marches were the flavour of the day before the Parliament resolution, it was turn of fireworks to ring in the mood of the jubilant crowd.A street play performed by the city-based Nishumbita drew parallels between icons of Anna’s movement and freedom fighters of pre-independence India.“On Saturday, we had planned on staging the play we have been staging for days.After the news of Anna breaking his fast came in, I started work on a new script and we started rehearsing in the morning.We had decided that come rain or shine, we will stage the play on Sunday evening,” says director Ram Mohan Holagundi.The play highlighted benefits of the movement and warned onlookers against growing complacent of assurances offered by the establishment.While the city celebrated at Indira Park, the virtual world seemed subdued as ‘Anna’ trended way below Dirty Picture and Aamir Khan.What made it to the top was ‘Anna’s 3’, a series of dubious statistics which seemed to outdo each other in fabricating a rosy picture in the aftermath of the movement.
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