By IANS,
Agra : Thousands of ‘jal, zameen, jungle’ marchers heading for Delhi from Gwalior with flags and banners and shouting slogans demanding land reforms were Wednesday joined by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and yoga guru Baba Ram Dev here.
Over 30,000 “pad-yatris” (marchers) — tribals, landless labourers, marginal farmers and large number of activists belonging to various NGOs — are part of the ‘Jan Satyagraha Yatra’ (people’s agitation for truth) demanding rights over ‘jal, zameen, jungle’ (water, land and forest). They were Wednesday camping in COD Ground on Gwalior Road here.
For the past two days, their representatives had several rounds of talks with central ministers and Congress leaders. Sources said an agreement was likely to be reached and announced by union minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday morning.
Chouhan announced full support to their demands and blamed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for dilly dallying. He said he was from a humble background and knew the pangs of poverty. His government was committed to the basic demands of the protestors.
Baba Ram Dev reached Agra around 2 p.m. and headed straight for the camping site to meet and support the pad-yatris. His presence brought cheer and bolstered the spirits of the tired rallyists who began their yatra a week ago from Gwalior, demanding land reforms.
“The central government’s only aim seems to be to some how to prevent the rallyists from reaching Delhi. Already the political ambience in the capital is pretty hot, and if these protestors reached there and if Anna joined them alongwith other civil society activists, trouble will be in store,” said a local activist Shravan Kumar Singh.
But a member of the march organisers core group indicated there was no question of their going back without a concrete promise from the central government.
Interestingly, all parties across the political spectrum have supported the rallyists. In Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav instructed his party workers in Agra to provide all help and support.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati has also extended support to the demands of the marchers. The Congress ministers and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including the Agra mayor also assured full support.