to Surat. When they reached Surat the length of the procession was thirteen kilometers from which we can guess the size. From Surat, they bifurcated. One went through Gujarat, while the other through Maharashtra. One in Gujarat culminated in a huge rally at Sabarmati. Joshi travelled with it till the end. After that, he joined the other yatra which ended in Tehere, the venue for the mass meeting. That meeting was the biggest in the history of SS. Over four lakh farmers attended. Joshi had planned to announce his nationwide farmers’ struggle. Unfortunately, news reached Tehere at 2 pm that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was shot at by her bodyguards; though the news of her death was not revealed till then. At two thirty the meeting started. Ramchandrabapu Patil, President of Sanghatana then, began the meeting with a prayer for PM’s recovery. Representatives of various farmers’ organizations also spoke. When Joshi rose to deliver his concluding speech, the Police informed that the PM was no more. Suddenly the mood was transformed. In that tense situation Joshi did not think it would be appropriate to announce any agitation. The meeting was concluded. Moreover, at that particular moment the biggest worry was to protect the twelve Sikh leaders. As mentioned in the earlier chapter on Punjab somehow the Sanghatana workers looked after the safety of their Sikh brothers. Joshi continued to be restless. He feared that if Rajiv Gandhi were to win the forthcoming elections with thumping majority, then he would certainly stay in power for next five years and the farmers’ cause would be put on the back burner. No agitation by the farmers, however big, could compel the government to accede to their demands. Therefore, Joshi tried his level best to form some kind of a national alliance of non-political nature which would offer opposition to Rajiv Gandhi. His idea was to On Political Front
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