Monday, August 13, 2012

Police in India detain Yoga guru Baba Ramdev to prevent his march with supporters to parliament in New Delhi - @zeenews

Live: Parliament march stopped, Baba Ramdev detainedZeenews Bureau

New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was on Monday detained to prevent his march, with thousands of supporters, to Parliament.

Sporting a black bandana, Ramdev said, “We had to go till Parliament. All these protestors were marching peacefully; we never intend to resort to violence. Police is not allowing us to move forward but we are not protesting…we are being stopped at the behest of central government.”

The march was stopped at the Ranjit Singh flyover in central Delhi where the police had put up barricades to stop the march to Parliament 2.5 kilometeres away.

Live: Parliament march stopped, Baba Ramdev detained

Many of Ramdev’s supporters are being herded into busses after they courted arrest. They would be taking to the temporary jail that has been set up in Bawana.

Hours before the march began, BJP president Nitin Gadkari, JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav and leaders from TDP and Akali Dal joined Ramdev on the stage and supported his movement.

Earlier, he told is supporters, Ramdev said, “The time to sit is over, now is the time to awake and stand up. As the next step we will march to the Parliament and sit on a dharna there, we will not lay siege to the Parliament but protest outside the Parliament.” The Parliament’s Monsoon Session is currently underway.

Live: Parliament march stopped, Baba Ramdev detained

Openly attacking the Congress, Ramdev said the party has completely failed to curb corruption and has damaged the reputation of the country and called for the social and political boycott.

“Congress hahato aur desh bacahao….this is the new slogan,” Ramdev said, however, he quickly added that other parties will be included in the list soon.

Ramdev said that the battle has not ended but has started out on a bigger mission. “In the next Lok Sabha elections, this movement will put in all force to stop any corrupt from entering Parliament.

Prior to the march to Parliament, Ramdev fasted for the last four days at Ramlila Maidan demanding that government bring a strong Lokpal bill, ensure transparency in naming heads of the CBI and the EC and make efforts to bring back black money stashed in foreign banks.

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First Published: Monday, August 13, 2012, 09:28