Anna Hazare observes silent protest in support of students; urges PM Modi to remove Pradhan

Social activist Anna Hazare on Thursday observed a two-hour-long maun andolan (silent protest) at Ahilyanagar in Maharashtra to extend his support for protesting students in Delhi. "Anna began his protest at 11 am and ended it at 1 pm," the social activist's aide Datta Awari told PTI. Hazare, who held the protest at the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Ahilyanagar, later left for his village Ralegan Siddhi, located in the same district. Hazare wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday saying "the news of…violence and police action…is extremely painful".

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In a letter to Modi, Hazare said the resentment of the protesters must be viewed "not as a law and order problem, but as the agony and expectations of society". If Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is asked to resign, "it will not cause the government to fall; rather, it will…make its functioning more accountable and effective", Hazare wrote. He requested the government to "listen to (the protesters) patiently, create an atmosphere of trust, and find solutions through positive dialogue".