After Anna Hazare it is Binayak Sen !

First Anna and then Binayak make activists a happy lot. Last week Anna Hazare made the government blink on the Lokpal bill and now the apex court's bail to human rights activist from Chhatisgarh Binayak Sen has brought joy to the city's motley group of activists and campaigners.

Especially after Anna Hazare's anti corruption campaign that galvanized the entire nation and got the government to bend, social activists are seeing human rights activists Binayak Sen's release as a major morale booster for civil society, whose voice is now finally being heard.

" We welcome the Supreme Court's (SC) decision which was long awaited. Justice was delayed but not denied and we are happy about it," says Wilfred Dcosta, convenor, Indian Social Action Forum (INSAF). " It is a great victory for us because the issue galvanized the people who were in slumber and have now woken up. Though symbolic it has given us a moral boost and we will continue our fight against injustice," Dcosta adds. Goldwin Fonseca who actively campaigned for Sen's release on the Internet is jubilant.

"I welcome the SC's decision. The state was out of touch with its people and now they're being forced to listen. It's a people's democracy and not the government's and we are finally moving in that direction," he says. On being asked if it was too early to celebrate only symbolic victories he retorted, " It might be only symbolic but in a country like ours only symbolism has brought people together.

"Surprisingly, two common men, Anna Hazare and Binayak Sen have become rallying points for the people to stand for a cause, giving them much needed hope in these distressing times.

Explaining that Anna's movement was successful in mobilizing the large and often ignorant middle class, Surendra Srivastava, who heads the Loksatta campaign in Mumbai says, "Anna's movement proved that when the people unite for a specific issue, change can happen. The powerful can't ignore the people any more." He adds that Sen's bail has moved those who had lost faith in the system.