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Vasundhara admits Govt. overlooked farmers' stir

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, DEC. 22. The much-awaited visit of the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, to Sriganganagar on Tuesday to mark the end of hostilities between the Administration and farmers in the Indira Gandhi Canal area turned out to be a tame affair. Contrary to expectation, Ms. Raje did not announce any package for Ghadsana and Rawala, the towns ravaged by the three-month-long strife, and the crowd, said to be numbering 7,000 to 8000, did not cheer for her even once.

The crowd also did not allow a Minister from the area, Surendrapal Singh TT, and a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and former Minister, Gurjant Singh, to speak on the occasion. Both of them were hooted down by the public. Curiously enough, Chandraraj Singhvi, one of the three negotiators for the Government in the agreement reached with farmers on December 11, was not present on the occasion though two others, Manickchand Surana and Satyanarain Gupta, were there.

There had been a controversy in the BJP circles in the wake of the settlement with farmers on who should be given credit for ending the agitation. The dispute arose as the initial negotiators were the three Ministers, Rajendra Singh Rathore, Sanwarlal Jat and Surendrapal Singh TT. Barring Surendrapal Singh the other two were also kept away from the meeting. At least some of the party leaders had aired the view that the Chief Minister had propped up her own men at the time of the final negotiations with farmers.

Reaching by road from Bikaner over two hours late than the scheduled time, Ms.Raje remained in Ghadsana town, the venue of the public meeting, for about an hour. She did not go to the homes of five persons who were killed in police firing during the agitation. Neither the family members were present at the meeting. There were less number of local people as the crowd was mostly made of those from other parts of Sriganganagar, or the districts of Hanumangarh and Bikaner. However, Ms.Raje admitted that her Government had overlooked the seriousness of the farmers' agitation. She also did not forget to remind the people that there had been mistakes on the part of the farmers as well. Ms.Raje said she was sad about the deaths. "Six of my own people have died. I express my heartfelt grief and offer condolences to the families of the bereaved,'' she said.

The villagers did not cheer or clap as she left the venue though there was a chant, "kisan ekta zindabad''(long live farmers unity) slowly picking up the sound decibels as people dispersed.

The people's expectations from Government were raised as during the past week the Sriganganagar district Collector and the Divisional Commissioner had collected the issues on which the locals wanted the Chief Minister to act upon during her visit. Barring the upgradation of a primary school to senior secondary level, the visit fell short of any new package.

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