New Delhi: Thousands of people holding placards and shouting slogans have protested in India's capital against what they called widespread corruption and poor governance.
At least 5,000 people marched on Sunday through central New Delhi to show their anger over recent scandals that hit Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government.
A telecommunications scandal cost the country billions of dollars and paralysed Parliament's four-week session in December.
India's image was also sullied by allegations of corruption, construction delays and cost overruns during last October's Commonwealth Games.
The government had no immediate comment.
Sunday is the anniversary of the death of independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi, who was known for his scrupulous honesty.
“Our politicians should wake up and and learn the lesson from what is happening in Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt. The peoples of those counties were fed up by corruption and inflation,” noted activist Swami Agnivesh told the protestors.
“The people of India are also tired of facing corrupt leaders, and politicians will now have to face public agitations,” he added.
Mahmood Madani, member of the Rajya Sabha and a prominent Muslim leader, said: “There is no difference between corrupt people and terrorists.”
Former law minister Shanti Bhusan, social activist Medha Patkar, former Indian Police Service officer Kiran Bedi, senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani were among those who addressed the protesters.
People holding banners that read ‘Corruption: Enough is enough’ gathered at Ramlila Ground from where they marched to the 18th century Jantar Mantar observatory in central Delhi.
People from various walks of life took part in the march.
“We need a powerful body to fight the war against corruption,”said Anjali Singh, a final year medical student at Lady Hardinge Medical College in New Delhi.
According to Vidit Gupta, a software engineer in Delhi, “This is only the beginning, the government must realise the power of the people.”
“It is the duty of the government to ensure the end of corruption in our country,” Sunil Patel, an engineering student at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani Sunday said India had slipped three points to the 87th spot in worldwide transparency and corruption index. He attributed the fall to alleged corrupt practices in the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG).
“It can hardly be denied that the year just concluded has caused extreme distress and depression to the citizens not only because the common man's family budget has been totally upset by food inflation and the cost of petrol diesel etc., but also because our country has come to be known all over the world as among the most corrupt countries of the world,” Advani wrote on his blog.
Citing a report on a website, Advani said India had slipped to 87th spot in Transparency International's latest ranking of nations based on the level of corruption. He said the ‘Corruption Perception Index’ report covering the public sector in 178 countries shows that India fell by three positions from its ranking of 84th in 2009.
Quoting from the report, Advani said: 'The perception about corruption in India seems to have increased primarily due to alleged corrupt practices in the recently held Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Delhi.'
