Ramdev crackdown: A mistake?
Monday, 06 June 2011, 16:29 IST
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Ramdev crackdown: A mistake?
New Delhi: Refuting allegations that it baton charged thousands of Baba Ramdev's followers to evict them from the Ramlila Ground in a post-midnight raid, the Delhi Police said that the yoga guru's supporters were responsible for the entire chaos. Police crackdown a stigma on democracy: Ramdev "We used tear gas after Ramdev's supporters pelted bricks, which they had stacked, and when they attacked us with iron rods, fire extinguishers and what appeared to be baseball bats. This was due to Baba Ramdev," Special Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Dharmendra Kumar said. When asked how the bricks and iron rods were present inside the premises, Kumar said: "The supporters already had them." "There was no lathi-charge. The whole media was there, not even one has shown the visuals of a lathi-charge. And the allegation that women were manhandled is also false. We had a huge number of women police personnel, we asked them to handle them," he said. When told that the Rapid Action Force personnel were carrying lathis, Kumar said: "They did not use them." Indian Americans support Ramdev's agitation Police also said that they had intelligence inputs about terror threat against two people. "There were terror threats against Ramdev and one more person. We got the input on Saturday afternoon. This (Ramlila Ground) was the appropriate place to target him," said Kumar, contradicting his own statement to IANS Saturday that there was no threat and police was there to provide security. Kumar also said: "We granted permission to the Bharat Swabhiman Trust to hold a yoga training camp, to be conducted by Ramdev, at Ramlila Ground. But the same was withdrawn late night Saturday after getting intelligence inputs that Ramdev is mobilising thousands of people from other states that might cause a law and order problem in the city." Ramdev propped up by communal, political forces The officer said that the stampede was triggered by Ramdev when he jumped off the stage to evade the police personnel. Ramdev told police that 5,000 people would reach the protest site but there were around 25,000 to 50,000 people at the venue. "We cannot allow this kind of gathering," said Kumar. Earlier, Delhi Police said that they cracked down on Ramdev after midnight Saturday in order to avoid law and order problems. "You know better how the crowd is during day time, that is why the action was taken at night," Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat told IANS. In the operation which he said started around 1 a.m., police forcibly took away the yoga guru from the Ramlila Ground where he was on a fast against corruption and black money. His supporters were dispersed using tear gas. "A case of rioting, damage to public property and obstruction of public servants in discharge of public duties has been registered," Bhagat added. Delhi Police Commissioner B.K. Gupta said tear gas was used only after the yoga guru's supporters attacked the police with stones. "We informed Baba Ramdev he will be detained as there was a security threat because more people had thronged the place than its capacity," he said. He said that Ramdev's 39 supporters, including four women, and 23 policemen were injured and they were discharged after first aid. But hospital authorities had a different figure. "Around 100 people are injured, out of which 71 are critical. Many have suffered wounds on their limbs," a medical official at the Lok Nayak Hospital told IANS. The hospital is adjacent to the Ramlila ground. "The police exercised great restraint in dealing with supporters and situation," Bhagat said. "In order to contain the situation from deteriorating, police lobbed eight tear gas shells, which forced the supporters to vacate the venue although after much resistance," Bhagat said. Police also said that they had imposed Section 144 (banning the assembly of five or more people) in the area in central Delhi. "We will not Baba Ramdev in the city till law and order in not under control. For now, Ramdev will not be allowed to enter Delhi for the next 15 days," said Kumar. A police statement said that instead of a yoga camp, Baba Ramdev chose to incite his followers through provocative speeches from the dais.
Source: IANS
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