Other States - Rajasthan   

Farmers refuse to cremate villager's body

Special Correspondent

Gharsana-Raola anniversary observed

JAIPUR: Thousands of farmers marched along the Anupgarh-Gharsana road in Rajasthan's border district of Sriganganagar on Friday carrying the body of a villager they had refused to cremate. Starting at 11 in the morning, as announced the previous day after the failure of talks with State Government officials, the marchers stopped near Village 6 DD, some 5 km from Gharsana town where curfew is in force.

The day happened to be the second anniversary of the police firing on farmers who had agitated for irrigation water in Gharsana and Raola in October 2004.

"We had asked the farmers not to carry lathis during the march. We don't want to precipitate the situation," said Dushyant Ojha, State secretary of the Communist Party of India here.

In the State capital Jaipur, activists and theatre persons spoke, sang and shouted slogans at the Safdar Hashmi Corner in Ramniwas Garden in the evening to mark the Gharsana-Raola anniversary. Senior Congress leaders, former Chief Ministers S.C.Mathur and Jagannath Pahadia, and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly, Ramnarain Choudhary, met State Governor Pratibha Patil at Raj Bhavan in the evening to demand dismissal of the BJP Government. "Raola and Gharsana have been under curfew for the past 19 days. Even the festivals of Deepavali and Id were not spared," they told Ms.Patil. There was a conscious effort on the part of the State Government to create discord among the communities in the border areas and reap political gains, they charged.

Keeping vigil on the body of Chandu Ram Saran, a native of 10 LM village in Anupgarh tehsil, during the day were Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D.Kalla, PCC vice-presidents Chandra Bhan and Raghu Sharma, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Nilotpal Basu, All India Kisan Sabha leader Nurul Huda, CPI (M) State secretary Vasudev, party MLA Amra Ram, CPI leader Tara Singh Siddu and the leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Vyapari Sangarsh Samiti, which is spearheading the farmers movement for irrigation water.

Speaking from 6 DD to The Hindu on phone, Mr.Kalla said there had not been any political intervention to resolve the crisis over the disposal of Chandu Ram's body.

Speaking to journalists in Sriganganagar,Mr.Basu blamed the Government for the present crisis and said from the very beginning of the agitation the Government had taken a negative stand on the farmers' demand.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Farmers refuse to cremate villager's body
Merit is the only criterion for admissions: BITS Pilani

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu