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the house where they had lodged would be set fire. They did not take him seriously, but at mid-night a crowd of about hundred people came there with burning torches and weapons shouting abusive slogans. That was also tolerated without resistance. After a while the crowd went away without setting fire.
During this time Shri Gulam Rasul Kureshi, who was at that time the member of legislature for that area, visited that place with Deputy Collector and began to inquire about the crop destruction and other misdeeds of temple authorities. However, the leaders of the movement told him that they were not interested in any legal proceedings and would try to solve the problem in their own peaceful way. The party which was conducting the Shuddhi Prayog was also paying attention to other social problems such as thefts, gambling and alcohol addiction.
The Shuddhi Prayog lasted for long 32 days, with peace, patience ad fortitude. The counter-demonstrations stopped as there was no resistance to them. Ultimately, the Acharya of Vadtal temple, under whom Sarangpur temple was working, sent his representatives to Santbalji who explained the justified grievances of the farmers. Finally the matter was settled to the entire satisfaction of the farmers all of whom were recognised as lawful tenants. Temple authorities not only agreed to charge only lawful revenue instead of crop-share, but also agreed to pay back the excess charged by them. The terms of the compromise covered the cases of all the farmers and not merely those five who stood firm. Farmers got rights over 800 Bighas of land. This was announced at the public meeting and the whole dispute ended very amicably.
A By-product of Temple Land Dispute :
A very interesting incident which was a by-product of the above dispute took place after the above settlement. This byproduct incident was the real testing ground of the nature of
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