This Article is From Jun 05, 2011

Jallianwala Bagh comparison questioned

Jallianwala Bagh comparison questioned
New Delhi: The removal of Baba Ramdev from a camp against corruption and the lathicharge and teargas used against the thousands of people there is being compared by the BJP to the British atrocities conducted at Jallianwala Bagh.

The government says it had no choice. The Baba had been permitted to hold a yoga camp for a maximum capacity of 5000. The crowd last night bordered on 65000 and some of the participants threw stones and fire extinguishers at the policemen patrolling the camp and searching for the Baba.  

Kapil Sibal, a senior minister, denied that a section within the Congress party had been opposed the plan to locate and evict Baba Ramdev and shut down his camp. "100% united. Everybody was united on this issue. No action like this takes places without complete unity both in the party and the government," said Sibal.

"Naked fascism" is how senior BJP leader LK Advani described the police action. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi chipped in with remarks on "the barbaric action" taken on a crowd of peaceful demonstrators. Even Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has rescued the government from some of its stickiest controversies by offering the support of his Samajwadi Party, took aim.

"The way in which police brutally dealt with Ramdev and his supporters, including women, shows that the UPA government is afraid of him. It's an act against democracy... It seems that the central government has lost is mental balance," Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.

It's unclear how many people were injured in last night's clashes at the Ramdev camp. Most reports suggest about 65 people were taken to hospital, most were sent home fairly soon suggesting they were not seriously injured, and four people are currently in the Intensive Care Unit at Delhi's LNJP Hospital.

Activists like Anna Hazare disagree with those reports. "Bahut pittai hua (many were beaten up)" said Mr Hazare, whose own hunger strike in April received mammoth public support and led to the government agreeing to work straight away on a new law to check corruption among politicians and bureaucrats.

 
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