Baba's Ramlila closed down

Followers of yoga guru Baba Ramdev at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi. (IE Photo: Ravi Kanojia)

Baba Ramdev's fast against black money lasted barely a day. Shortly after midnight on June 4, with thousands of his supporters asleep in tents at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, teams of Delhi Police stormed the venue, firing tear gas shells and wielding lathis, to end the standoff between the yoga guru and the government.

The raid followed an evening of collapsed negotiations. The government had sent Ramdev a written communication asking him to withdraw his fast, assuring him of steps on his demands, including his signature call for declaring Indians' illicit wealth in foreign banks a national asset. Ramdev, who had earlier said he would call off the fast on receipt of satisfactory assurances, refused to relent. Permission for the gathering, granted for a yoga camp of 5,000 rather than the political agitation it had swelled into at 20,000-plus, was cancelled.

Chaos broke out around 1:10 am. Supporters formed human chains around the stage; some threw pots and tripods at the police. Ramdev himself slipped away in the confusion, reportedly disguised in women's clothing, and was later detained and flown to his ashram in Haridwar.

The crackdown convulsed Indian politics. The BJP called it reminiscent of the Emergency and accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi of ordering it. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance, demanding to know why tear gas had been used on sleeping people. Delhi Police maintained that permission was only for a yoga camp and that tear gas followed stone-pelting by supporters — while denying any lathi-charge at all.

The episode bookended a whiplash week: days earlier, four Union ministers led by Pranab Mukherjee had gone to the airport to receive Ramdev, a display of deference that made the midnight raid look, to critics, like a government lurching from obsequiousness to brutality. Ramdev continued his fast in Haridwar. The images from Ramlila Maidan, of tear gas drifting over sleeping families, lingered far longer.