Jessica Lal was not just a murder victim or a blood-spattered headline. Shot at the Tamarind Court Cafe, Delhi on the night of August 29, 1999 she became immortalized as the guiding light of citizen activism. The candle lights vigils, protest marches and public and media pressure forced the judiciary to re-open the case against Manu Sharma sending him behind the bars for at least 14 years. Take the recent Nandigram and Singur issue of West Bengal. The leftist government took a harrowing decision on the man management problem and the political parties became busy in blaming each others as blood feuds ran deep enough to paralyze the rural Bengal. Out roared the common people and the intellectuals as the Government finally stepped down on the Nano issue. Sorry, but it could be handled much better. Angry middle class India fought for justice, for all. Public will is the ultimate symbol of democracy and undoubtedly, the most powerful weapon to fight against injustice or oppression. The Mumbai floods also literally opened the flood gates of citizen activism with over 2,500 PILs being filed and online signature campaigns launched to clean up the mess that the city has degenerated into.
It was not just Delhi or Kolkata or Mumbai. Ordinary people became the new urban heroes as, across the country groups and colonies rallied together to take on the establishment and usher in a new and potent force in social transformation. The individual has become the collective.

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