Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said here Sunday the central government seemed to have lost its “mental balance” and would have to “pay for its action” of cracking down on yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s stir in Delhi.
“The government swooped down on Ramdev and his supporters as if it were carrying an attack on a foreign enemy,” Yadav told reporters at a press conference.
“The government will have to pay the price for its action against Ramdev for rejecting the mandate. The manner in which the women, children and others supporting Ramdev were dragged and assaulted, indicate that the central government has lost its mental balance.”
“It’s really ironic that the government, unable to prevent the borders of the country from foreigners like China and Pakistan, carried out such an operation against those who were registering their protests against corruption in a peaceful manner,” he said.
Taking a swipe at Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for calling Ramdev a “thug”, Yadav said: “A Congress leader has called Ramdev a thug. I would first demand the leader should go for an introspection to know how many people he has duped.”
“It’s the Congress government that has indulged in maximum cases of corruption. So, can there be a bigger thug than the Congress party, whose some leaders just don’t know the manner how to talk about sadhus and sants,” said Yadav.
Accusing the Congress of “reviving emergency-like situation”, Yadav said: “Ramdev was giving sleepless nights to the central government… it got scared of him and resorted to harsh ways for gagging the voices rising against the corruption.”
“All opposition parties have a united stand on the issue… It’s an achievement of Ramdev’s campaign. Persons, who earlier were not supporting Ramdev, will now too stand by him.”
Just after Saturday midnight, police took over the Ramlila Ground in the capital — the ground zero of Baba Ramdev’s mass hunger strike against corruption.
He was forcibly taken away from the venue and air-lifted to Uttarakhand Sunday morning. Thousands of his supporters were baton-charged and tear gas was used against them.
Asked whether his party would demand Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation over the issue Ramdev, Yadav said: “The citizens of the country will now make him (Manmohan Singh) resign.”
