Ramdev Issue: BJP leader slams Sonia and Rahul

BHUBANESWAR: BJP national secretary Santosh Gangwar on Thursday slammed Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi for their silence on the police brutalities on yoga guru Ramdev and his followers at Delhi’s Ramlila ground. It is disturbing that neither the Congress president nor Rahul has shown the same zeal in condemning the mid-night police brutalities on the yoga guru and his supporters as they did in case of farmers of Bhatta-Parsaul in Uttar Pradesh, Gangwar said.  He demanded an apology from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress president to the nation for violating the fundamental right of the citizens to peaceful agitation against the wrong policies of the Government and explain the naked attempt to deny Ramdev the basic fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The BJP leader alleged that the use of force to tackle the agitation by Baba Ramdev was done at the behest of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh was kept in dark. The use of repressive measures is reminiscent of Jalianwala Bagh massacre. Letting the police run riot over the hapless sleeping women, children and elderly was indicative of a vengeful mindset of the nervous UPA Government, he said adding, it was premeditated decision taken with a malicious intent to suppress the satyagrahis who were demanding action against the corrupt. The Centre’s action against Ramdev reminded the action of the Congress before the Emergency in 1975. Similar language, idiom and cacophony were raised by the then Congress leaders  to justify trampling of constitutional rights of the common people to protect their turf in power, he remarked.   Corruption has become the distinctive hallmark of the UPA Government. The Centre is showing absolute unwillingness to take any meaningful action to fight corruption unless compelled to by the Supreme Court. Whatever action is being taken is only due to unrelenting pressure from the media, judiciary and the civil society, he said. The Congress must own up responsibility and express regret for use of police force to suppress the agitation by Baba Ramdev, he advised.