Jantar Mantar turns into mini-Andhra as Jagan fasts

NEW DELHI - Jantar Mantar, Delhi’s demonstration destination, turned into a mini-Andhra Pradesh Tuesday as former Congress MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy and thousands of his supporters thronged the area for a day-long fast to highlight the misery of farmers in the state.

Telugu was the flavour of the day at the venue as the 3,000 farmers from various parts of Andhra Pradesh talked in their mother tongue.

Slogans in Telugu in praise of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Jaganmohan’s father and former chief minister who died in an air crash in 2009, rent the air.

Jaganmohan, popularly known as Jagan, had come along with the farmers to Delhi in a special train Sunday evening.

The Parliament Street was blocked for the protest. Hoardings and posters of YSR, as Jagan’s father was known, and Jagan dotted the road. On the dais, there was a life-size garlanded photograph of YSR.

Posters hailing Jagan’s movement ‘Jal Deeksha’, campaigning against the directions of Krishna water dispute tribunal, were all over.

V. Janardhan, a farmer from Jagan’s native Kadappa, said: Only YSR’s son can mobilize such a massive crowd to such a far away place like New Delhi. No other leader or party in the country can do it.

Jagan has mobilized poor farmers like me to Delhi in a special train which is not a small thing. In return, he personally gains nothing for these efforts,” said Ram Babu from Guntur.

With Delhi experiencing bitterly cold days, most of the protesters had come armed with woollens and monkey caps.

But thankfully, the sun came out. The weather has also cooperated with us, said J. Srinivas, another Jagan supporter.

The organisers also doled out freebies like woollen caps and socks to the supporters to fight the chill.

Jagan has been on a collision course with the Congress since the leadership rejected his claim to the chief minister’s chair following the death of his father in a helicopter crash Sep 2, 2009.

He moved the Election Commission last week for registering his newly floated political party.

Last month, nearly two dozen legislators shared the dais with Jagan when he undertook a 48-hour fast at Vijayawada, demanding compensation for farmers who lost their crops in the recent untimely heavy rains.