The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday condemned the Bahujan Samaj Party government's decision to disallow Baba Ramdev from staging a dharna and fast in Uttar Pradesh after his eviction from the Ramlila grounds in New Delhi. The BJP accused Chief Minister Mayawati of acting under pressure from the Congress-led UPA government.
Notwithstanding Ms. Mayawati's strong condemnation of the lathi-charge and use of force on Baba Ramdev's supporters at the Ramlila grounds well past midnight on Saturday and her welcoming the Supreme Court directives on the incident on Monday, her government reportedly ensured that the yoga guru was not allowed to stage a dharna in the State.
Baba Ramdev, along with a few of his supporters, was stopped in Muzaffarnagar district (bordering Uttarakhand) under the Purkazi police station area.
He was on the way to Noida (Gautam Buddha Nagar) from Haridwar for continuing with his fast and dharna at the City Centre in Noida when the cavalcade was intercepted in Purkazi by a police force led by the SSP and the District Magistrate of Muzaffarnagar at around 7.30 p.m. on Sunday.
Reports said Baba Ramdev was told that he would not be permitted to enter Uttar Pradesh, and if he insisted he would be arrested. Baba Ramdev, subsequently, returned to Hardwar.
Ms. Mayawati, who was in Bangalore, was kept informed of the developments.
Reports further said that Baba Ramdev had expressed his desire to meet the Chief Minister. The reports were neither confirmed nor denied by the Special DG (law and order) Brij Lal during his routine press briefing.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here on Monday, State president of the BJP Surya Pratap Shahi said that by denying permission, Ms. Mayawati had shown that she was with the Congress on the issue of corruption.
Mr. Shahi said that if Baba Ramdev could undertake the fast in Uttaranchal, the same could be done in Uttar Pradesh. “It seems that the Chief Minister was acting under pressure from the UPA government.”He said the BJP staged a 24-hour satyagraha in protest against the police brutalities at the Ramlila grounds in some districts, from 2 p.m. on Sunday. The satyagraha in other districts began at 11 a.m. on Monday.
Mr. Shahi announced that a “kisan bachao yatra” along the Yamuna Expressway would be launched from Agra on June 8. The yatra will conclude at Noida extension in Gautam Buddha Nagar district on June 11, where a kisan panchayat will be addressed by BJP president Nitin Gadkari. The yatra will be led by Uttar Pradesh election in-charge Kalraj Mishra and flagged off by the former national president, Rajnath Singh. It will pass through 43 villages, including Bhatta -Parsaul, in the districts of Agra, Hathras, Mathura, Aligarh and Gautam Buddha Nagar.
