CONGRESS-sponsored midnight police brutality on non-violent protesters at Ramlila Maidan has received sharp reaction from across the country. After this brutality, the agitation started by Baba Ramdev against Congress corruption and black money stashed away in abroad has now reached to the village level and lakhs of people are spontaneously in the streets all over the country. There are reports of strong protests even in small towns and remote villages. Needless to say that the more Congress government is suppressing the agitation, the stronger it is getting day-by-day.
Supreme Court issues notice to government
Taking suo motu cognizance of the police brutality on agitators at Ramlila Grounds, the Supreme Court on June 6 sought Centre’s response on the incident. A vacation bench of justices BS Chauhan and Shri Swatenter Kumar issued notices to Union Home Secretary, Chief Secretary of Delhi, Delhi Administration, and Delhi Police Commissioner asking them to respond within two weeks. The court asked them to reply as to what were the circumstances under which the people had to be dispersed at midnight by the use of force.
NHRC seeks report from Centre, Delhi
‘Pained’ over the police atrocities on the sleeping protesters, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) asked the Union and Delhi governments to submit reports within two weeks. Taking cognizance of the police brutality, the NHRC asked the government to explain reason for taking such a step. The NHRC said, it is pained to see media reports and complaints alleging unconstitutional police action in the midnight involving shelling of tear gas shells, lathicharge and forceful eviction of a large number of people sleeping under the pandal.”
Sedition charge against Digvijay Singh
Alocal court in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, on June 5 accepted a complaint seeking to register a case of sedition against Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for allegedly describing Yoga guru Ramdev as a ‘fraud’. Chief Judicial Magistrate RC Malviya accepted the complaint filed by advocate Sudhir Ojha who sought to book Digvijay Singh under section 154(A) (sedition), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the IPC. Shri Malviya fixed June 16 as next date of hearing.
Mayawati seeks Supreme Court probe
Condemning the police action “in strongest terms”, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati on June 5 requested the Supreme Court to order a probe as “justice cannot be expected from the Centre” in the issue. She termed the crackdown at Ramlila Maidan as “inhuman”, “undemocratic” and “condemnable”. “Our party condemns this in strongest terms”, she said in Bengaluru. She said heavy punishment should be given to the guilty so that such “goondaism” is not unleashed on anybody sitting in dharna in any part of the country.
Mockery of democracy and worse than JallianwalaBagh
Noted Gandhian Shri Anna Hazare termed the police brutality on the protesters as “a mockery of democracy, which is worse than what happened in Jallianwala Bagh”. He announced to boycott the Lokpal meet called on June 6 to express his support to Baba Ramdev and his campaign.
Noted lawyer and Jan Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee member Shri Shanti Bhushan said, “The government is trying to crush the anti-corruption movement. We have, therefore, decided not to attend the joint committee meeting on June 6.”
Former IPS Kiran Bedi said, “The government gave Baba Ramdev permission for a yoga shiver knowing that he was going on a fast. What happened was unethical.” “We are fighting for the same issues”, said lawyer and Jan Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee member Shri Prashant Bhushan.
Baba Ramdev is not a terrorist?
“Was Baba Ramdev a terrorist that he had to be picked up amid such high drama and urgency?” Justice Santhosh Hegde, member of Jan Lokpal Bill Drafting Committee, said about Baba Ramdev’s arrest. “It has brought back memories of the horrific Emergency which was imposed in June 1975. What was the hurry? Was this some Emergency situation where terrorists were slipping out? The government has a lot to answer for this (the arrest),” he added. “Was it necessary to treat the protestors that way? They were protesting peacefully. They were beaten up, and the brutality which I witnessed has pained me no end. I don’t think anyone has the right to disturb a peaceful agitation,” he thundered.
Advani demands apology from Manmohan, Sonia
Senior BJP leader Shri LK Advani described the incident as “naked fascism” and demanded apology from Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. He expressed surprise that the government, which was negotiating with the yoga guru to persuade him to give up his fast, suddenly cracked down on his supporters.
Shri Advani saw a parallel between the midnight swoop and the events of June 1975 when Emergency was imposed and several Opposition leaders were arrested. “I have a feeling June 2011 is also going to become another turning point in the history of the country,” he said. Decrying the criticism that Baba Ramdev’s movement was backed by RSS, Shri Advani said this was nothing new. “Even Jayaprakash Narayan was accused of this (when he led the anti-Emergency movement), but had it not been for the Jan Sangh and the RSS, the Sangh Parivar, Emergency would not have ended,” he said.
Beginning of the end of Congress—Narendra Modi
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said the police action against Baba Ramdev marks the ‘beginning of the end’ of outrageous Congress government. He recalled that June 5, 1975 was declared as ‘Sampoorn Kranti Diwas’ by Jayaprakash Narayan. “If to raise voice against corruption is a crime, if to demand for a law to bring the black money back to the country is a crime, I admit the crime”, he said. This movement is getting unprecedented support from the crores of people of the nation and now their anger cannot be crushed by lashing atrocities on them, he said.
Shameful chapter in democracy—Arun Jaitley
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Shri Arun Jaitley described the crackdown on Baba Ramdev’s anti-graft fast as “a shameful chapter in the history of Indian democracy”. “What happened at Ramlila Maidan is a shameful chapter in the history of Indian democracy. It was a barbaric act by the police against citizens who were protesting peacefully against corruption and black money,” he said. “Government did not act against Kashmir’s separatists who held meetings in the heart of Delhi. How can the attack on Ramdev be justified,” he asked. Hitting out at Congress leader Digvijay Singh for his thug remarks against Baba Ramdev, Shri Jaitley said: “Osama bin Laden is called Osamaji and Baba Ramdev is dubbed as a thug. He is lowering the level of Indian politics by using such language.”
Centre owes an explanation —Nitish Kumar
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar slammed the UPA government for attacking the democratic rights of the people. “The UPA government owes an explanation. It is also an attack on the fundamental rights of the citizens,” he said. He had already extended his support to Ramdev’s agitation and the issues on which the yoga guru decided to stage dharna.
UPA must tender public apology —N Chandrababu Naidu
Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu demanded a public apology from UPA Government on this issue. Accusing UPA government of adopting “vindictive attitude” against those crusading in the interest of national cause, he described the arrest of the Baba as immoral.
P Chidambaran must resign: Swamy
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy demanded resignation of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram. He said Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Chidambaram “must accept joint responsibility for the dastardly and sinister police raid” on June 4 on “innocent, fasting and sleeping volunteers of Baba Ramdev” in Ramlila Grounds.
Sri Sri Ravishankar dismayed over crack down
Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravishankar expressed dismay over the crackdown on Baba Ramdev and said he was heading back to the country mid-way through his abroad trip. In a statement he advised people to maintain calm and be more resolute in fighting corruption and black money.
NDA leaders call on President
Ahigh level delegation of NDA leaders met President Smt Pratibha Patil on June 6 and urged her to summon a special session of Parliament in the soonest possible time to compel the government to explain its brutal action against peaceful protesters and apologise for this attack on civil liberties and democratic rights, bring forward a resolution declaring all Indian money stashed away in foreign banks as National Wealth, and introduce a legislation to empower enforcement authorities to take severe penal action against those who have indulged in such criminal pilferage of national resources.
Congress leaders lose mental balance —Mulayam Singh Yadav
Terming the midnight crackdown as a grim reminder of the Emergency era, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav strongly criticised the UPA leaders for their myopic vision. “The Congress leaders seem to have lost their mental balance as is evident by such extreme and unjustifiable step,” he said. He said corruption is a major issue and people have realised it with Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev giving a call for eradication of the menace. He said the Congress-led UPA Government was not concerned about China’s incursions into Indian territory rather it was more interested in crushing voices of dissent in the country.
24-hour dharna by BJP at Rajghat
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders—Shri LK Advani, Smt Sushma Swaraj, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Shri Arun Jaitley and others—spent the whole night at Rajghat on June 5 in protest against the government’s atrocities on Baba Ramdev and his followers who were fasting against corruption at Ramlila Maidan. Addressing the party workers at the satyagraha site, BJP president Shri Nitin Gadkari said his party is with all the people who fight against corruption. “This is a fight to save democracy and it is not a fight of one party or individual but the fight of the nation,” he said. “Home Minister P Chidambaram has replaced General Dyer, who had massacred peaceful agitators in Jallianwala Bagh during the freedom struggle,” Shri Gadkari said. He urged the party workers to spread the reality about the incident across the country. Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Smt Sushma Swaraj and senior leader Dr MM Joshi also addressed the workers.
BJP Mahila Morcha demands NCW to constitute independent inquiry
Ahigh level delegation of BJP Mahila Morcha led by national president Smriti Irani met the National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Smt Girija Vyas in New Delhi on June 6 and demanded immediate constitution of an independent Inquiry Committee to probe the violation of Constitutional Rights of Women on mass scale by Delhi Police and Government officials at midnight of June 4.
PM is Sonia Gandhi’s puppet
After being forcefully evicted from Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan and ‘deported’ to Haridwar by Delhi Police Baba Ramdev resumed his satyagraha at his ashram in Haridwar. Talking to mediapersons he called Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh ‘a puppet in the hands of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.’ “We hope to see that Prime Minister shows more responsibility towards the country than towards Sonia Gandhi and the Congress,” he said. He said the police action at Ramlila Maidan was the ‘darkest night of my life.’ “The police force did not even spare the smallest children. Women and children were dragged and beaten up. The government tried to suppress the peaceful protests. One of our workers, Rajbala, is very serious; she will probably not make it. We have got a list of over a 100 people who are injured, like Ajay Arya whose both legs are broken; he can’t even be operated upon. There are thousands like them who did nothing wrong. This is a huge blemish on the government,” he said.
Condemnable, shameful and barbaric: RSS
Condemning the police atrocities on Baba Ramdev and his supporters in the midnight, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Dr Manmohan Vaidya said: “The Barbaric atrocities committed by police, at the behest of central government, on thousands of peaceful and non-violent demonstrators sitting at Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds is highly condemnable, shameful and shocking. The thousands of people who were on an indefinite fast since morning of June 4 were demanding action against corruption and a law to get black money back to India that has been, over several years, deposited in tax havens abroad. Lathicharge, firing tear gas shells and forceful eviction by the police on these peaceful and non-violent demonstrators at late in the night reminds us of the black days of Emergency imposed by the then Congress government. The brazen and cowardly attacks by police on the demonstrators that did not even spare women, children and elderly only shows that the present government has no regard for the people’s sentiments.”
Following a directive from RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Bhaiyaji Joshi the Sangh swayamsevaks also participated in the protest meetings organised all over the country by Bharat Swabhiman Andolan against the police btutalities on the protesters in Ramlila Maidan. There are reports of participation by swayamsevaks and some senior Sangh leaders from different parts of the country including Bengaluru, Ahemdabad, Pune, etc.
Humiliation of entire saint fraternity — Ashok Singhal
VHP president Shri Ashok Singhal described the police action as humiliation of the entire Sant fraternity. He condemned the action in strongest terms and said it reminded the oppressive policies of the British Raj. He made it clear that it is the clear policy of Vishwa Hindu Parishad that whatever movement or effort would be made against corruption in the country, VHP would extend full support to it.
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