Commodity OnlineMUMBAI: One week after India's financial capital Mumbai was hit by terror strike that killed more than 200 people, thousands of people across the country poured into the streets of several cities and held candle-light vigils and peace marches on Wednesday.
The unprecedented spontaneous show of solidarity with residents of terror-ravaged Mumbai saw several leading film stars and activists and common people at Gateway of India voicing their anger against the politicians.
Shouting slogans, people gathered in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, near Cubbon park in Bangalore, War Memorial in Secunderabad and at the Maidan and College street in Kolkata, Lucknow and Chennai as Mumbai emerged from the pall of shock and grief that hung over the city since the 26/11 attacks that claimed more than 200 lives.
Posters and placards vividly captured the anger and concern as young and old, women and children thronged the iconic red sandstone Gateway to India opposite the Taj Mahal Hotel which along with Trident-Oberoi Hotel, Nariman House, cafe Leopold and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Station bore the brunt of last Wednesday's terror attacks.
"Enough of terrorism", "Let us kill terrorism Halla Boll!", "Politicians get out" and "We want acations not words" were some of the messages conveyed in banners and placards.
"We have never seen such a show of solidarity for a single cause at the Gateway of India," said Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar, as white candles were lit around a wreath of red roses laid on the cobbled plaza of the harbourfront structure.
As dusk fell, the Taj Mahal was fully lit with roads packed with people right from Colaba police station till the Gateway and Regal.
In other metros too, anger was the all pervasive emotion. In Kolkatta, a Pakistani flag was burnt by protestors who condemned Islamabad's "hand" in the terror attack. "Enough is enough," said a placard in Bangalore.
"Terrorism has no religion. People should unite in the fight against terror," said Sandeep Mishra, an engineer at Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice flew down to Delhi on Wednesday to show solidarity with India, saying that America and India will join hands to fight terror.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Rice, addressing a joint press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, said that all countries must come together to fight the menace of terrorism.
"I come because the President of US and the people of US want India to know that US stands in solidarity. We are going to work very closely with you in any way we can and get to the bottom of what happened," the US Secretary of State said.
Rice also rejected Pakistan's contention that India does not have enough proof against Pakistani citizens being involved in terror attacks and said that there is need for "direct and tough action" by Pakistan even if the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks were "non-state actors".
