Advani asks President to convene emergency Parliament session on Ramdev issue

Chennai/Ahmedabad/ New Delhi, June 5 (ANI): Terming the government crackdown on yoga guru Baba Ramdev similar to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) veteran Lal Krishna Advani today urged President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to convene an emergency session of Parliament.

"I feel this is political fascism. I want the president to take cognisance of the happenings in the country for the past six months and convene an emergency session of Parliament. I would urge the president that she should not be a passive observer," Advani told reporters in Chennai.

"Police beat up the young and old. It was like Jallianwala Bagh. The Prime Minister, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who is also UPA chairperson of the UPA, owe an apology to Ramdev and the whole country," he added, while charging the police of forcing Ramdev to end his fast-unto-death protest against corruption at Delhi's Ramlila ground.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP leader Narendra Modi condemning the incident, criticized the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, for the use of force against Ramdev.

"The PM had said during the elections that he would bring back black money stashed in Swiss banks within 100 days of coming into power. But today, it is two years and nothing has happened. Congress will have to answer 120 crore people of India about the use of violence on innocent people," Modi told reporters on the sidelines of a function in Ahmedabad.

"I would like to tell Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that you cannot escape by saying that you did not know. You are directly responsible for what has happened at the Ramlila ground in Delhi. The lathi-charge on innocent people has been at your behest on behalf of the Delhi sultanate and not by the Sheila Dikshit Government," he added.

Modi further said the police action on innocent people reminded him to the situation similar to 1975 emergency.

Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal justifying the government's stand earlier in the day, said Ramdev politicized the whole issue.

"He had promised only for yoga and the crowd would not exceed 5,000. But around 50,000 persons were present. We had accepted all his demands in written. But Ramdev did not keep up his promise and politicized the issue. He cheated all his supporters," Sibal told reporters here.

"A swami who teaches yoga to the country should not teach us political 'asanas'. Baba turned his yoga session into a political stage. Now, it's clear that Ramdev is the another face of RSS," he added.

The talks between the Central Government and Ramdev crashed last night with both sides citing betrayal.

The cabinet ministers, who were making all attempts to persuade Ramdev to give up his fast said that he had promised he would end his fast last evening. A letter was produced in this regard.

Ramdev, however, said the government was lying, and added that the letter had been conditional upon the government agreeing to his list of demands.

Ramdev started his indefinite 'fast-unto-death' stir on Saturday to demand several radical reforms in the prevailing political system, including a death penalty for corrupt officials. (ANI)