Rajghat fortified for BJP dharna

Prerna Sodhi, TNN | Jun 7, 2011, 04.19am IST


NEW DELHI: The BJP satyagraha at Rajghat saw high drama in the evening with the Centre deploying paramilitary personnel at the venue. While police refused to come on record, sources said because of security issues, the forces were called in. The saffron brigade, however, ended their 24-hour satyagraha.

Earlier, the BJP raised temperatures with a scathing attack on the Congress-led UPA government. It called the government a "pickpocket of the poor".

"Farmers are committing suicide, inflation is high and this government says whoever is earning more than Rs 21 is not poor," said BJP president Nitin Gadkari. The BJP blasted the Centre for what it called a savage assault on Ramdev's satyagraha at the Ramlila Maidan. The entire BJP brass observed Black Day on Monday. Besides Gadkari, others present at the Rajghat were LK Advani, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Murli Manohar Joshi, Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Calling the crackdown as undemocratic, Gadkari said, "In this country if peace loving people raise their voice against corruption will they be beaten up on the orders of Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi? All that people demanded was to end corruption and bring black money stashed abroad back into our country. What was unlawful in this demand," asked Gadkari.

Taking a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Sonia Gandhi is remote-controlling the government . But if Manmohan Singh messes up an issue, she quietly distances herself from it," he said.

Prasad said he did not believe the government would take any concrete action against the corruption. "As far as our demand for a special session in the Parliament is concerned, we think, the government will back out. This government is jittery on accountability," he added. While the BJPs' satyagraha ended on Monday, the party says it plans to carry forward its crusade against corruption, government autocracy and black money in the week ahead.

"We will continue holding dharnas in several parts of the city after two or three days to gather public support on issues of corruption and black money," said Vijender Gupta, BJP Delhi Pradesh President.

By the time, the agitation ended, Border Security Force and CRPF jawans had fortified Rajghat. Senior police officials refused to come on record, but said the deployment was done to serve a three-fold purpose. "First, there would have been a traffic jam after the satyagraha ended. We have already imposed Section 144 at the Ramlila Maidan and did not want any activist to go there. Second, we wanted to ensure smooth traffic flow and wanted to prevent any further deterioration of law and order," said a senior police officer.