Yoga guru Ramdev, who along with his supporters faced police crackdown during their agitation at Ramlila Maidan in June last, on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to exercise “self restraint” and ensure that similar action was not taken against social activist Anna Hazare and his team.
As confrontation between Mr. Hazare and the government escalated after the police denied permission to him for staging a fast from Tuesday to press for a strong Lokpal Bill, the yoga guru in his letter to the Prime Minister said such protests should not be “crushed” through “unconstitutional and undemocratic” means. “We would expect that you will exercise self-restraint and not allow a repeat of what happened against us on the midnight of June 4 at the Ramlila Maidan, he said.