New Delhi: Nationwide protests over reservation enter seventh day.
The anti-quota agitation by the medicos further intensified with students, parents and medical faculty taking out a massive protest march in the national capital on Saturday.
The striking medicos under the banner of 'Youth for Equality' were joined by students from Delhi University and medical colleges around the capital, parents of some agitating students, lawyers and a group of chartered accountants.
Over 1000 students were seen marching from Maulana Azad Medical College in Central Delhi towards Jantar Mantar near Parliament House, where the rally culminated.
BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and motivational guru Shiv Khera were also seen participating in the rally.
The students emphasised that the march should be peaceful in the backdrop of violence in Patna and Mumbai.
Police made tight security measures and deployed additional forces along the route.
"We want a peaceful rally and also avoid any confrontation with police and pro-reservation activists," said Dr Anand, a representative for 'Youth for Equality'.
Traffic movement along the route was normal. Students also formed human chain to remain in order and to prevent protestors spilling over the entire road and disrupting traffic movement.
The medicos, who were on the seventh day of the agitation, were demanding a complete rollback of the proposed 27.5 per cent quota for OBCs in elite educational institutions and a review of the existing reservation policy.
Meanwhile, the Group of Ministers, dealing with the issue, will submit its report to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh later amidst indications that they favour increasing the number of seats in a phased manner.
On Thursday, during their meeting with Union Minister Oscar Fernandes, the students have rejected the Centre's proposal for increasing the seats in general category and demanded a complete rollback of the OBC quota proposal.
The Delhi government has deployed Army doctors in the state-run hospitals where medical services were badly hit during the anti-quota stir.
Meanwhile, HRD Minister Arjun Singh said that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh knew and approved of the controversial OBC quota bill.
Speaking exclusively to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN's Devil's Advocate, Arjun Singh strongly denied the allegation that the PM was kept out of the loop.
Arjun Singh says the PM was in favour of creating reservations for OBCs.
Its been almost two decades since the VP Singh government implemented the recommendations of the Mandal Commission and as the UPA government moves perhaps more tentatively to revisit the issue of reservation.
(With inputs from PTI)
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