Gujarat Dalit rail roko canceled "for now" following high alert in state: Govt allegedly "goes soft" on demands

Jignesh Mevani with Kanhaiya Kumar

By A Representative
In a late night development, top Gujarat Dalit rights leader Jignesh declared he was “canceling” his highly-publicized rail roko (block the trains) agitation, which was to begin on October 1 at 10 am, at Maninagar, former state assembly constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad. Chain pulling was going to be one of the programmes of the rail roko.
In a statement, Mevani said, “Looking into the situation at the borders, and following talks with Gujarat home minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja, who showed his readiness to hold talks regarding our demands, we are canceling the rail roko agitation. We hope that the government will positively look into our just and reasonable demands.”
Earlier, in an effort to make the rail roko national, Mevani had announced that those who would participate would include Jawaharlal Nehru University students' leader Kanhaiya Kumar, Gandhian academic and Magsaysay awardee Sandip Pandey, film maker Anand Patwardhan, right to information activist and Magsaysay awardee Nikhil Dey, and Dalit rights scholar Dr Anand Teltumbde.
Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM), under whose banner the rail roko was to be organized, in a separate statement claimed that the state government had become “soft” to its demands and agreed to hold discussions on them following “long talks” with the government, the rail roko was being taken back.” RDAM added, the decision to withdraw the agitation had been taken “against the backdrop of high alert in the country”.
Interestingly, Pratik Sinha, the closest associate of Mevani, without once recalling “high alert”, said, following “conversation” with the government, RDAM was calling off rail roko “for now” following the state government “initiated contact with the conveners of RDAM this evening”.
He added, “The state government had multiple phone conversations with the conveners of RDAM and the government promised to look at the demands that RDAM has submitted in form of a memorandum and have table-top talks with them to negotiate the demands that RDAM has raised.”
Claiming that RDAM's “steadfastness” in its conviction “instilled a sense of fear in the government”, Sinha added, “The government was finally forced to initiate a dialogue on the eve of rail roko, more than a month after RDAM had submitted their demands.”
Earlier, in an interview with top national daily on Friday, Mevani had said, the government had left him with “no option”, and “unlike multiple calls for talks given to Patidars agitating for OBC status, Dalits’ demands and unrest have been totally ignored.”
“After three mega conventions (of Dalits), a 10-day march and numerous detentions, the government has not even once shown any sign of dialogue”, he had added.
To a question whether the demand for five acres land was unrealistic, Mevani said, “If not 5 acre, give us 3 or 2 acre. But there has to be some willingness for negotiations on their part (government).”
“If government land is not available, then the government should purchase it”, he said, adding, “Patidars were given financial package. The government announced 10% EBC quota. But our demands have been totally ignored.”
Mevani admitted, his call for Dalits to stop skinning cattle – a demand on which two major rallies and an Ahmedabad to Una march were organized – has been “only a partial success”. He agreed, “Many did not agree to the call and others resumed the work after a few days.”
Mevani announced his decision to make rail roko a national event on September 6, at a rally at Jantar Mantar, where, among others, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury and Dr BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, currently Republican Party of India leader, were present.

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog