This man has completed 27 yrs on dharna

Muzaffarnagar, Feb 27: For 27 years, this man has been on dharna -- possibly the longest one-in protest against corruption and land mafia. Vijay Singh, 60, held a 'yagna' on Sunday for the cause he has been fighting for.

According to Singh, he had started 'dharna' on February 26, 1996, which is still on at Shiv Chowk in Muzaffarnagar city.

"Some illegal encroachments have been removed but a 1,000 bigha land which had been grabbed by the land mafia in my village is yet to be freed," he said.

"I have done everything within my means to rid the state land from the clutches of the mafia. In 2012, I met the then Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav who formed a committee but nothing happened. I approached incumbent Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in 2017 who assured me of impartial inquiry.

"The inquiry confirmed the authenticity of my claim, in its 17-page report, in 2019 and since then I have visited Lucknow at least a dozen times but no action has been taken to reclaim the land. Now, what is the option left? Let them see what this system has done to me... 27 years is not a short time. I have given my life for the cause," he said.

Upset over the grabbing of public land in his village, Chausana (now in Shamli district), allegedly by the land mafia, Singh left his school teacher's job in 1996 and sat on the dharna at the Muzaffarnagar Collectorate. His silent agitation continues.