The second day of Anna Hazare's three-day long fast saw only a limited number of people at the MMRDA ground here today.
Yesterday, when 74-year-old Hazare had started his fast, the estimate of people at the venue varied between 4,000 and10,000, which was in sharp contrast to up to 30,000-40,000 that poured in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan in August. Today, the number was visibly even less.
A close aide of Team Anna also expressed disappointment over the low turnout.
"The crowd is much less than what we had expected from Mumbai. Had Anna been fasting in Delhi, the response would have been phenomenal. But the crowd was relatively low in all parts of the country, except Delhi, maybe it was due to the year-end," he said.
Majority of the supporters present at the venue are from the northern states of the country like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.
"The crowd has been relatively low here, compared to Delhi. It was much less than what I had expected. We haven't seen many Mumbaikars. Instead, a lot of people from different parts of the country are here to support," Pavitra Singh, who came from Punjab, told PTI.
"The crowd might be less due to several reasons like reports on the threat to Anna would have stopped people from coming here. Also, the place is a commercial hub, so the working class come and go as per their convenience," he said.
Singh, who is fasting, works for a local NGO in Punjab that focuses on issues related to youths.
"It seems people of Mumbai are busy with work. They don't have time for social causes...Burning issues like corruption," K V Singh from Haryana, who had worked with Hazare in the Army, said.
