Digvijay bends as Shekhar to Advani pitch in for Nanaji

In 1974, with the Emergency in sight, Nanaji Deshmukh had thrown himself in front of JP to shield him from police lathis. Today 28 years lat...

In 1974, with the Emergency in sight, Nanaji Deshmukh had thrown himself in front of JP to shield him from police lathis. Today 28 years later, when his colleagues faced similar treatment from the police, the diabetes patient was willing to expose his 87-year-old body to the rigours of a fast. Finding him unwilling to relent, the Madhya Pradesh government had no choice but to bow to his demands.

Accordingly, a judicial inquiry has been ordered into the October 25 incident at Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramoday Vishwavidyalaya (MGCGV), where police lobbed teargas and resorted to a lathicharge to disperse students who had blocked a state highway to protest against the failure to rescue one of their colleagues kidnapped by dacoits. Nanaji has also got the government to promise that no action will be taken against those booked till the inquiry is over.

Nanaji has been involved in social work for the past 11 years in Chitrakoot and was the one who set up MGCGV. He was away in Mumbai for a medical check-up when the incident occurred. When he heard of it, he threatened to go on a hunger fast till his demands were met.

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According to sources, from former prime minister Chandrashekhar to Governor Bhai Mahavir, many influential people had called up Chief Minister Digvijay Singh to tell him that Nanaji wouldn’t back down, and it’s better if he did. On October 31, on the eve of the fast, BJP leader Uma Bharti came down to meet Nanaji at the instance of Home Minister L.K. Advani and contacted the Digvijay government. The same evening, the SP and Collector of Satna held a press conference announcing that the government had agreed to the demands.

Deposing before a committee of BJP MLAs and MPs, teachers from MGCGV yesterday gave a graphic account of the police action on October 25. Nanaji told BJP leader Kailash Joshi: ‘‘I am a colleague of my colleagues, not a leader of my colleagues. They had been dealt with in a barbaric manner and I could not stay away from their distress.’’

SP Raja Babu Singh says police had no choice. ‘‘After the lathicharge, the students retaliated. They rushed into the rooms in the campus and started pelting stones. That was when police entered the rooms to clear them. Even the V-C was sitting on dharna. Is that how he is supposed to instruct his students?’’

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