Pro-quota protesters take to streets now

Pro-quota protests, so long muted and unreported, today gained in strength all over the country, with protesters accusing the media and anti-reservation protesters of telling lies to the public regarding support from the Indian Medical Association and the faculty members of All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

The protesters, including medical students and resident doctors of various medical colleges of Delhi, will stage a dharna tomorrow, close to the ongoing anti-reservation protests in AIIMS, to make their point.

The pro-quota protesters today staged a dharna at Jantar Mantar here under the aegis of OBC Mahapanchayat, while Dalit leader Udit Raj organised a meeting to chalk out a plan of action for sustained protests for OBC reservation in higher education.

Raj told Business Standard that the reports on AIIMS faculty members supporting the anti-reservation protests were a lie. "I have signatures of 20 faculty members of AIIMS supporting reservation," he said.

Resident Doctors' Association general secretary of Maulana Azad Medical College Nitin Sakhya said that medical students from all colleges were getting organised. "Tomorrow you will see us all very near the venue of the anti-reservation protests," he said.

Kancha Ilaiya, OBC activist and professor of political science from Hyderabad, arrived in Delhi today to support the cause of the OBCs.

He said the OBC leaders were planning a huge meeting soon. He alleged that the students in medical colleges who were protesting against reservations were not doctors, but elite models who wanted to exploit the government institutions so that they could go abroad and make money later.

"Let them all commit immolation as during the Mandal riots. No one will miss them," he said.

In Maharashtra, PWD minister Chagan Bhujbal led an agitation in favour of quota. Over 400 activists of the Mahatma Phule Samta Parishad, the outfit for OBCs floated by the NCP leader, also courted arrest after a demonstration in Mumbai.

In Chennai, the Indian Medical Association came out in support of reservation saying that the Delhi-based IMA was speaking for itself when it opposed reservation.

Meanwhile, resident doctors in Delhi continued their strike against reservations. However, AIIMS Resident Doctors Association tonight announced their decision to join back duties.

The decision was taken after a meeting between the authorities and the striking resident doctors. "We are joining duties in the interest of patient care," general secretary of the association Dr Aravind said.

AIIMS officials said that the RDA had given an assurance in writing that they would resume work from tonight.

Medical students in Rajasthan, Bihar, Orissa, Bengal and Tripura also went on strike in support.

In Parliament, HRD Minister Arjun Singh reiterated the stand of the government today that the concerns of all interests would be taken into account while implementing reservation.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, he said the government was "not unmindful" of concerns expressed by agitating students against reservations in elite educational institutions and that it was seriously considering all options that would also satisfy them.

However, he made it clear in the Lok Sabha that the government was committed to implementing the proposal on reservations and no timeframe could be given as it was considering a number of suggestions.

"I would like to assure the Lok Sabha that we are concerned about this issue. And it is not as if we are unmindful of the fact that a section of the people or the students feel that something is being taken away from them.

"I would like to dispel that impression. We are very seriously considering all the options that could give help to those sections of the people or the community who have at the moment acquired a certain stake in the entire thing," he said replying to supplementaries during the Question Hour.

Stating that the reservation was a commitment of Parliament, which had passed the 93rd Constitution Amendment Bill for the purpose in December 2005, and was "irrevocable", Singh said a proposal to implement this was being considered in tandem with other provisions of the law.

He promised to get back to the House with a "comprehensive roadmap to ensure what the House wants in this context."