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NBA protest rally passes
off peacefully

All is not in vain, feel NBA supporters, as their first
rally since the Supreme Court judgment passes off peacefully, barring a few stray incidents of violence, reports Shamya Dasgupta

Barwani, October 24

The rally organised by the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) to protest against the Supreme Court ruling that gave the go-ahead for the construction of the Narmada dam passed off peacefully yesterday, with just a few stray incidents of public aggression.

The first public rally conducted by the NBA after the Supreme Court ruling started at the NBA office just
after 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Villagers from all over
the Nimar district of Madhya Pradesh turned up in
huge numbers, although not as many as the NBA
had expected.

Apart from the villagers, the rally was attended by a host of social workers, journalists and environmentalists from across the country. Midway through the morning, well-known author and NBA supporter Arundhati Roy joined the procession, as it was moving from the District Collector's Office to the local court. It provided a further fillip to the huge masses of people, who, though clearly unaware of her status as a writer, do know that she is
an important public figure in India and a supporter
of their cause.

The first public rally conducted by the
NBA after the Supreme Court
ruling started at the NBA office just
after 12 o'clock
in the afternoon. Villagers from all
over the Nimar
district of Madhya Pradesh turned up
in huge numbers

The effort on the part of most
of the NBA speakers was
to convince the people that their fight was not over yet and that they should continue in the same vein till justice was done. It was never really mentioned that it is practically impossible to have a Supreme Court decision changed, but the flaws in the way the government and the judiciary handled the case were pointed out.

Shripad Dharmadhikary, an NBA activist for the past
12 years, put the whole thing down as a "saazish" (conspiracy) on the part of the government to obliterate the people of these parts in order to satisfy their own demands and ensure profitability. He said, "The government has said that of the 1,034 families in Madhya Pradesh that are coming within the course of the dam, they will relocate 599 families in Gujarat and the rest in other parts of Madhya Pradesh. There is no way this can happen, as there isn't enough land in Madhya Pradesh
to settle the inhabitants of more than one village.
And even after so many years, no land has been
acquired anywhere."

Sonia Gandhi
Chhota Rajan
Sushmita Sen
Mohammed
Azharuddin

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