Docs to hold 'Desh Bachao' rally; meet Fernandes

New Delhi, May 27: Stepping up the offensive against the Government after the first round of talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh failed to resolve the OBC quota impasse, the striking medicos will today hold a ''Desh Bachao'' rally where anti-reservation activists from across the country are expected.

Disappointed with the 14-day stalemate, representatives of striking doctors and students this morning held an informal meeting with Minister of State without Portfolio Oscar Fernandes.

They said the meeting also discussed the ''mess and miscommunication'' Union Health Secretary P K Hota had caused after the negotiations with the Prime Minister.

''We conveyed to Mr Fernandes our demand of a written assurance about setting up of a judicial review committee and increase in the number of seats from the Prime Minister. The mess Mr Hota created was also taken up in detail... We will not back down without anything concrete,'' Dr Safal Singh, Maulana Azad Medical College RDA member and Youth for Equality leader, said.

He said last night Mr Hota had gone back to the Prime Minister with their demand of ''written assurance'' and when he returned back he was carrying an unsigned sheet of paper.

''Mr Hota was carrying an unsigned sheet of paper which only stated the UPA-Coordination Committee addresses concerns of all categories of students.... the students need not worry about shrinking educational opportunities as a massive expansion in capacities of higher education system would be undertaken,'' Dr Safal Singh said.

''The Health Secretary brought the PMO press statement to us as the concrete assurance from the Prime Minister. This is outrageous...,'' he added.

Dr Singh said they wanted the Government to finalise its negotiator first and then resume talks with them.

''The Government must first decide who it wants to talk to us....That ways things will be more clear,'' he added.

The ''Dilli Aao Desh Bachao'' protest rally is scheduled to be held at the Ramlila Ground from 1630 hrs.

Before that the rally, the activists will march in protest from Veer Bhumi to the venue.

BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu, Management Guru Shiv Khera, DMRC MD E Shreedharan and former CBI Director Joginder Singh are expected to address the rally.

''We are expecting activists from across the country at the rally here tomorrow and we are hopeful that the turnout will be very good. This agitation will not fizzle out,'' AIIMS RDA President and Youth for Equality leader Binod Patra told UNI.

He said the rally will be a show of strength and a message to the government that the agitation will not be withdrawn.

''We are severely disappointed with the way the government has ignored our demands...but that will not deter us we will go on,'' he added.

Criticising the Government, Dr Patra said on one hand it was holding negotiations with the medicos while on the other it took a unilateral decision on the proposal.

''They have back-stabbed us.... This is not how a democracy works,'' he added.

Yesterday, despite the ''positive and good'' meeting with the Prime Minister, the striking medicos decided to continue with the agitation till they receive a ''written assurance'' from the Government on the issues raised by them. The students and doctors took the decision at an emergency meeting of General Body Meeting (GBM)of the 'Youth for Equality', which is spearheading the agitation.

They unanimously decided to continue and intensify the agitation as it was not satisfied with the Prime Minister's assurances.

''The Prime Minister has to come out in the open with his assurances. He has to tell the nation and the media what is going on. He has to give in writing...,'' Youth for Equality leader Dr Anirudh Lochan said.

''We have decided to continue with the strike. We are not satisfied with the assurances of the Prime Minister. Since the government is not relenting... there is no question of us backing out now,'' he added.

He said nothing concrete came out of the meeting with the Prime Minister.

''Dr Singh neither gave us a written assurance on increase of seats nor appointment of the judicial review commission,'' he said.

''The government has not shown flexibility... We want a written assurance,'' he added.

Dr Lochan said the Prime Minister had asked them to call off the agitation, while assuring them that the reservation roadmap of the UPA-Coordination Committee addressed the concerns of all the sections of students.

''Dr Singh told us there was no need to worry about shrinking educational opportunities,'' he added.

The striking medicos submitted a charter of demands to the Prime Minister which comprised setting up of a non political judicial committee to review the existing reservation policy, white paper on reservation, exclusion of ''OBC creamy layer from reservation'', quota for economically backward and no action against the striking doctors and students.

During the meeting, the Prime Minister had assured them that the UPA Coordination Committee's reservation roadmap addressed concerns of all the sections of students.

''The UPA-Coordination Committee addresses concerns of all categories of students.... They need not worry about shrinking educational opportunities,'' Prime Minister's Media Advisor Sanjaya Baru said while reading out Dr Singh's statement after the almost hour-and-a-half-long meeting.

The Prime Minister told the 10-member delegation of the students and doctors that he foresaw a massive expansion in capacities of higher education system.

''The expansion would see a huge growth in the educational opportunities available to all classes and categories of students,'' he added.

The Prime Minster said the technical experts groups being set up under the Oversight Committee would examine ways and means of expanding the capacities.

''The Government is committed to the expansion and they could give specific suggestions to these Committees,'' he added.

The UPA-Left Coordination meeting, presided over by the Prime Minister, on May 23 decided to implement in letter and spirit the 93rd Constitutional Amendment enabling 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in higher educational institutions.

An Oversight Committee will be constituted to draw up a time bound roadmap for implementing the decisions and that the Committee would submit a comprehensive report by August 31, 2006.

A specific bill will be brought in the Monsoon session of Parliament in this regard.

The doctors and medical students of All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Safdarjang, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Maulana Azad and the Lok Nayak Jaiprakash Narain hospitals are on strike.

Resident and Junior doctors of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Ram Manohar Lohia, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Ihbas hospitals had also joined the stir.

UNI

Related Stories