Up and down Parliament Street

By Prashant Pandey

NEW DELHI, MARCH 26. It is early morning at Hanuman Vatika inside the sprawling Ramlila grounds here. A group of elderly women and men hurriedly ready themselves and settle down for a prayer session. By 10-30 a.m. they are on their way: to Parliament Street, a ``charkha'' each slung across their shoulders, demanding a ban on cow slaughter.

They are all members of ``Goraksha-Jan Aandolan Satyagraha''. And for the past two years they have been following this same routine every single day that Parliament has been in session. Yes, they do not mouth slogans like the run-of-the-mill protestors. ``We do not shout `Jo hamse takrayega choor choor ho jayega (Whoever clashes with us will bite the dust'),'' says Anna Yadav, leading the latest batch of satyagrahis whose number and members keep changing.

A memorandum listing their demand is duly submitted at the Prime Minister's Office. By 3 p.m. they are back at the Parliament Street police station, chanting hymns eulogising the significance of cows.

``Our demand is based on sound economics. Cows, oxen and their dung are the backbone of village economy. They can also be a viable alternative for fuel and fertiliser,'' asserts Anna, involved with the movement since the days of Vinoba Bhave who launched the movement nearly 20 years ago.

The satyagraha was initiated at Deonar in Mumbai near one of Asia's biggest slaughter houses and has carried on since. It got going after the government of the day went back on its assurances to ban cow slaughter. But merely sitting in protest and demanding a legislation from the Government is not all that the satyagrahis do for their mantra of ``gram swaraj'' -- village self-rule. ``We do constructive work too,'' says Anna, referring to extensive research being carried out at Sarvodaya Teerth in Mumbai.

``These people are a welcome change from the routine breed of protestors who cry themselves hoarse and create law and order problems on Parliament Street day in and day out,'' says an officer at the police station.

There have been other groups which have sought to enlist their support. ``One group, which was also demanding a ban on cow slaughter, asked us to join them. They said if we join hands with them our demand would be met sooner than we expect,'' says Anna, who politely refused to bite the bait. ``Our demand is purely economic and thoroughly irreligious and apolitical.''

Over the years the satyagrahis have had their share of success. But their driving force seems to be the sheer longevity of the movement -- against all odds. ``Initially the number of people participating in the satyagraha was high, but gradually we had to scale it down as the net result was the same, numbers notwithstanding,'' says Anna. ``We have survived for 20 years at a time when the stream is against us. So why should we not continue?"

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