Retired IAS Vinod Prasad Raturi stages mass tonsure outside Assembly, vows march to Gairsain on Aug 15
SUNIL NEGI
DEHRADUN: In a dramatic protest for statehood’s unfinished promise, Retired IAS officer Vinod Prasad Raturi, chairman of the Permanent Capital Gairsain Committee, performed a mass tonsure ceremony outside the Uttarakhand Assembly building in Dehradun on Thursday.
The protest comes after the Committee’s continuous fast of more than 100 days in Gairsain failed to elicit any decision from the government on declaring Gairsain as the permanent capital of Uttarakhand.
Sitting right in front of the Assembly building, members of the Committee, led by Raturi, tonsured their heads en masse.
Addressing the gathering, Raturi said Uttarakhand has completed 25 years of statehood but still does not have a permanent capital, which was the very reason the state was formed. “Gairsain as the permanent capital remains a dream,” he said.
Explaining the symbolism of the tonsure, Raturi said, “In Hindu rituals, mass tonsure is performed either for a child or upon the death of an elderly person. Because the government is dead set against Gairsain as the capital, we organized this mass tonsure.”
The Committee chairman announced that the agitation will be intensified further.
On August 15, the Committee will take out a march from in front of the Assembly building in Dehradun demanding a permanent capital in Gairsain.
The march will pass through various stops and culminate in Gairsain, where a scheduled hunger strike will continue until the demand is met.
The Permanent Capital Gairsain Committee has been agitating for years, arguing that locating the capital in the central hills of Gairsain is essential for balanced development and for honoring the sentiments of the statehood movement.
Security was deployed in the area during the protest, and traffic was regulated around the Assembly premises as the demonstration drew attention of commuters and officials.
