Taking exception to the Supreme Court verdict charging yoga guru Baba Ramdev of ‘contributory neglect' that led to the midnight police crackdown at the Ramlila Maidan in June last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that by the same logic Mahatama Gandhi contributed to the crackdown by the British raj on his protests.
Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar also objected to the Baba Ramdev trust being asked to bear 25 per cent of the compensation the court asked the police to pay to the victims of the crackdown. Mr. Javadekar said the apex court was ‘diluting the right to protest.'
Indictment of the Delhi police for the crackdown did not amount to clean chit to the Union government, he said.
Mr. Javadekar argued that the Delhi police alone should not be held guilty for the human rights violations as it was “acting at the behest of their bosses in the Central government, namely, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Ministers P. Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal.”
“Such an attack on peaceful supporters of Ramdev would not have been possible without political clearance at a very high level. The policemen have suffered but what about political accountability,” he asked.
Elaborating on the issue of indictment of Ramdev, Mr. Javadekar said that it would have been justified only if the crowd had been violent. The party welcomed the court observation that the whole scenario was avoidable.
PTI reports:
Top lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who appeared for Ramdev in the Supreme Court in the case, demanded the resignation of Home Minister P. Chidambaram, holding him responsible for the police action.
Published - February 23, 2012 08:47 pm IST
