Baba Ramdev refuses to leave stadium, says protest to go on

Baba Ramdev told mediapersons at the Ambedkar Stadium that he has been requested not to go ahead with his protest keeping the Independence Day and security arrangement in mind.

He, however, remained non committal on ending his fast on Tuesday morning saying the protest would go ontill his last breath

He also said that he will not eat unless everyone present at the ground was provided with food and water.


Ramdev further reiterated that he will not vacate the stadium on Monday night.

Claiming that the protest was taking a decisive turn, the yoga guru claimed that he had majority in Parliament and among people as well.

Even after Delhi Police announced that "all are released", Baba Ramdev and his supporters were still holding on at the Ambedkar Stadium near Ferozeshah Kotla in Central Delhi.

With Baba Ramdev and his anti-corruption supporters blocking roads in central Delhi, police were forced to detain them in Ambedkar Stadium, a few hundred metres from Ramlila ground, instead of another stadium, an official said.

The Union home ministry is in touch with Delhi Police officials and closely monitoring the situation arising out of the preventive custody of yoga guru Ramdev and his hundreds of supporters.

"We are in touch with Delhi Police and are closely monitoring the situation," a senior ministry official said.

The refusal by Ramdev and his supporters to leave the protest site has caused worries to Delhi Police who are busy in ensuring security arrangements for the Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

The way leading to the protest site was blocked for several hours and there was traffic jam in most of the surrounding areas near it.

"Delhi Police expressed their concern over the Ramdev agitation to the MHA, which was being looked into," the official said.

Police detained the yoga guru on Ranjit Singh flyover, while he was leading protestors towards Parliament, and initially planned to take them to Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in north Delhi's Bawana.

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But police managed to take only some 200 of them to Bawana and were forced to take the yoga guru and other supporters to Ambedkar Stadium in central Delhi due to alleged non-cooperation from protestors.

"Baba Ramdev was taken to Ambedkar Stadium along with his thousands of supporters," said a police officer.

He said the change of plan happened as Ramdev's supporters were not cooperating with police.

"They were walking on roads and some even lay down on the roads, when asked to board buses," he added.

The buses had been called in to transport the protestors to the stadium in Bawana, some 20 km from central Delhi.


Addressing the supporters at Ambedkar Stadium, Ramdev said they will not leave the place till government provides his supporters with food and water.

"I will not break fast till my supporters are fed. So I will not end my fast today," he said.

"This government is incapable of rooting out corruption and bringing back blackmoney. It is also incapabale of providing food and water to those arrested," he said.

On a day of high drama and after BJP and JD(U) leaders offered their support, Ramdev, who had been dilly-dallying for the past three days on his strategy, asked his thousands of supporters to march towards Parliament, three km away from the protest venue at Ramlila Maidan, for a dharna outside.

"Congress hatao, desh bachao" (Remove Congress, Save the country) was the slogan Ramdev gave in his address and later in the march that discarded any semblance of neutrality in the campaign against corruption mounted by him.

He had been claiming that his protest had no political agenda but intended to fight corruption.

Addressing the protesters, BJP chief Nitin Gadkari told Ramdev that he was not alone in his fight against the government on the blackmoney issue and his party extended full support to him. He said BJP had stalled Parliament earlier in the day on the issue.

With government ignoring his protest and refusing to engage with him, Ramdev had been threatening to announce his future strategy since Saturday.

Addressing supporters earlier in the day, Ramdev said, "the government has become completely deaf. We have to make them hear us. Now the protest will be outside Parliament.

"...Lok Sabha polls will be in 2014 and 99% could be in 2013. This protest is to ensure that no dishonest person enters Parliament. Such people should be boycotted. We do not have a political agenda," he said.

"The Government is deaf, blind and insensitive. It is in coma, it will die, we don't want anybody to die. But they are inviting death. Congress hatao, desh bachao," Ramdev said.

Gadkari alleged Delhi Police is a "puppet" in the hands of the Central Government.

The BJP chief also appeared to suggest that Ramdev's close aide Balkrishna has been jailed because of the yoga guru's campaign against blackmoney, saying they are being targeted.

"Balkrishnaji has been jailed by the CBI. Is it a crime to talk about blackmoney? What Ramdev says is right...CBI is being used to threaten Ramdev and his disciples," he said.