In what could be termed as the biggest outpouring against corruption by citizens, thousands of Art of Living volunteers joined citizens across the nation in the India Against Corruption march that took place in more than 50 cities in India and some even in the United States.
‘India Against Corruption’ is led by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Swami Ramdev, Swami Agnivesh, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, J. M. Lyngdoh, Justice Tewatia, Mallika Sarabhai, Maulana Mufti hamoom Kashmi, Maulana Kalbe Rizvi, Arch Bishop Vincent M Concessao, Prashant Bhushan, Devinder Sharma, Subhash Chandra Aggarwal, Pradeep Gupta, B. D. Lall and Sunita Godara among others.
Supporting this endeavour Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said, “If we can accept corruption as our way of life and carry on with this, we are cheating ourselves and millions of people of this country. Today we need to come together for a big transformation, a new direction, an awakening amongst our people. Everyone should speak out against corruption. Fight against injustice, but without anger or violence. Fight with a calm and serene mind. The spiritual values of Ahimsa and truth transcend time and work everywhere, even today. When you make your mind strong with a conviction not to be corrupt, people will also change. This awareness and awakening has to happen within each individual and this is where individual education will lead to a collective culture.”
This movement demands comprehensive reforms of anti-corruption systems in India through the enactment of a law, to set up an effective anti‐corruption body called Lokpal at the centre and Lokayukta in each state (the existing Lokayukta Acts are weak and ineffective.)
Cities where the march against corruption was held: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Aurangabad, Kolkata, Pondicherry, Vishakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Trichy, Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Allahabad, Silchar (Assam), Chandigarh, Guwahati, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Barabanki, Patna, Bhagalpur, Jhansi, Gwalior, Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Aligarh, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Rajkot, Surat, Raipur, Amroha, Bilari (Moradabad), Jaito, Faridkot, Bokaro, IIT-Kharagpur, Jalaun, Ambikapur, Surguja (CG) and many others.
