The Hindu : Front Page : Medha Patkar ends fast

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 18, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Medha Patkar ends fast

Gargi Parsai

Challenge is bigger, she says

PHOTO: S. SUBRAMANIUM

WITH AFFECTION: Narmada Bhachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar breaks her fast by having fresh lime juice being offered to her by one of the activists as CPI leader A.B. Bardhan (left) looks on at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI: "The fight is not over [yet]. This challenge is deeper, larger and bigger," Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar said on Monday at the Jantar Mantar dharna site after breaking her 20-day-old fast. She had undertaken the indefinite hunger-strike for getting justice for the displaced families of the Narmada valley.

Along with her, Jamsingh Nargave and Bhagwatibehn also gave up their fast.

A frail-looking Ms. Patkar accepted juice from a displaced tribal from the Narmada valley.

Government "happy"

Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz said he was "happy" that Ms. Patkar had given up her fast. The tension had now been defused and the Supreme Court could take various points of views into consideration.

He said nobody in the Congress or the Government was against raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar dam, but proper rehabilitation of displaced families was equally important. That was why the Government sent a Group of Ministers to Madhya Pradesh to assess the situation. "Even the court has said that rehabilitation should be done in the letter and spirit of the Narmada award and its orders."

Ms. Patkar said the Supreme Court had not stayed the construction of the dam and left it to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. "The State had not responded favourably to a non-violent people's movement. We urge the Prime Minister to invoke the authority vested in him by the Supreme Court, the Constitution and his own commitment to development with a human face. He must not bow down to the fascist and communal forces and must intervene to ensure that the poor affected by the dam's construction get justice."

Thanks all

She was persuaded by former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, journalist Kuldip Nayar, Rajinder Sachar, B.D. Sharma, Amar Nath, Surendra Mohan, CPI leader A.B. Bardhan and Swami Agnivesh to give up her fast. The support given by actor Aamir Khan, Rahul Bose and writer Arundhati Roy "had done more than our fast," she said.

Ms. Patkar thanked the doctors at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences for not forcibly giving her intravenous drip despite her failing health. "And, that is why my blood is strong even today."

The NBA and displaced families would return to the valley in two days and prepare for the next phase of struggle arising out of the Supreme Court order.

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