BJP workers protest Ramdev's eviction

PATNA: Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Monday made a symbolic appearance at the JP Roundabout here to give moral support to his party's men and women staging one-day dharna claiming that midnight crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Saturday was akin to an attack on fundamental right to freedom of expression enshrined in the Constitution.
In consonance with the call of the BJP national leadership, the state BJP had sounded out its rank and file in the state on Sunday asking them to stage dharnas (sit-ins) at all the 38 district headquarters to protest the midnight police swoop on Ramdev and his supporters in Delhi.The party's legislators also participated in the dharna in their respective districts.
The Patna Mahanagar unit of the state BJP staged a dharna at J P Roundabout here on Monday in which the party's legislators -- Amarendra Pratap Singh, Arun Kumar Sinha and Nitin Navin, all MLAs, Ganga Prasad, MLC, -- also participated. Calling the police swoop down as "brutal", Modi said, "The brute use of force against Ramdev and his supporters was an attack on fundamental right of an individual. It was also a blow to the spirit of democracy in the country."
Modi also said that he had come to address those staging the dharna to stress that the attack on Ramdev should be deemed as an attack on freedom of expression, and the incident reminded him of the days of Emergency that the Congress had imposed on the country the same month 36 years ago.
While pointing out that Ramdev and his supporters were voicing protest against corruption, Modi said the countrywide agitation should definitely be launched on the issues raised by Ramdev. "It is because of this that I, despite being deputy CM in the government, have come to give moral support to you all," Modi said.
Criticizing AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, he said the language that he has been using was provocative which has been agitating the mind of youths in the country. Modi also maintained that Singh's language was at the behest of PM Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The Congress would have to pay the price for insulting Gandhian Anna Hazare and Ramdev, he added.
According to Modi, Mahatma Gandhi had ended British rule in the country and Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) had removed the Congress government at the Centre and, therefore, the Congress-ruled UPA seemed to have underestimated the power of people.
Modi also said it was under the pressure of the might of the RSS that the Emergency rule was withdrawn. Besides, just as investigations had been conducted into the affairs of Sarvodayite organizations during the Emergency, so the property of Ramdev was also being probed into, he added.
While BJP Patna Mahanagar unit president T N Singh presided the dharna, among those who also addressed it were senior-most state BJP leader and former governor Kailash Pati Mishra as well as the legislators present on the occasion.