New Delhi:
Anna's team of volunteers, which started with a dozen enthusiasts, has now evolved into a volunteer committee of a thousand. These are the faces that work tirelessly behind closed doors, away from the media glare.
The core team comprises of Magsaysay Award winner Arvind Kejriwal, top cop Kiran Bedi, father-son duo of lawyers Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, former journalist Manish Sisodia and activist Akhil Gogoi from Assam.
India Against Corruption (IAC), the group proving to be Anna campaign's backbone, has around 22 key members with specific responsibilities like media coordination, crowd management, stage management, media management and hospitality.
These volunteers have mobilised more people and the number is constantly increasing.
"We are trying to manage the whole crowd with our people and not with the police; this is the character of our movement. There is no head in the committee, we all have same powers. We appeal to all the volunteers to tackle all problems with love and affection," said Mr Gogoi.
But turning Anna's fast into a television event was the responsibility of Bibhav and Ashwati - a journalist by profession.
"There is a team of 10-20 people who work for the media coordination. Then there is Facebook team, one team for Twitter, a team to coordinate to the media another who handles the website," said Ashwati.
Starting from 20, to a thousand now, IAC volunteers have been in full control of the movement trying to avoid every possible government help.
"Most of the time, I feel inspired looking at them; they work without media attention. There is no need to inspire them, they in fact inspire me. This is a people's movement and we don't want government machinery to control it. If we need security arrangements, our volunteers will do; if we need management arrangements, our volunteers will do it. Of course, the police have a role in society and they should do their job; they need not penetrate each and every corner," said Mr Manish Sisodia.
"I along with 20-30 of other volunteers do the cleaning. I feel this is as important as narebaazi (sloganeering) because it is equally important is for us to keep this place clean," said Vipul, a volunteer.
It takes 1000 volunteers to keep Anna fasting, all of them under 30 years of age. So now we know what Anna means when he says his strength comes from the youth.