Washington: Strongly condemning police
action against Baba Ramdev and his supporters at Ramlila
Maidan in New Delhi, the US unit of Overseas Friends of BJP
said its chief has joined the yoga guru in India on behalf of
overseas Indians.
"Overseas Friends of BJP (USA) condemns UPA government
in the strongest terms for such a barbaric, undemocratic and
brutal police action against peaceful Satyagrahis protesting
against corruption and black money," OFBJP, which aligns
itself with Bharatiya Janata Party, said in a statement.
"This is the beginning of the end of UPA government,
when downfall nears the person gets deluded (Vinashkale viprit
buddhi), that is what has happened to Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Sonia Gandhi," it said.
Adapa Prasad, the national president of OFBJP, went to
India last week to join in this Satyagrah against corruption,
it said, adding he is scheduled to address a press conference
to to register OFBJP`s protest and demand resignation of the
Prime Minister.
OFBJP has been supporting Ramdev in his fight against
corruption, and organised mass protests across the US over the
weekend. The protests were organised in New York City, Upstate
New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington DC,
Richmond-Virginia, Tampa-Florida, Houston-Texas, Dallas-Texas,
St Louis-Missouri, Atlanta-Gerogia, Chicago-Illinois, Boston
and California.
Referring to the police action at the Ramlila Grounds
over the weekend, OFBJP said, the only fault of the volunteers
was that they were demanding the government to enact tough
laws against corruption and bring back black money stashed
abroad.
"The action of UPA government reminds us the midnight
anti-democratic action on June 26, 1975 when Emergency was
clamped on India by the same Congress party which is leading
the UPA government now, and thousands of innocent people were
arrested and brutalised that day," it said.
Meanwhile, Washington-based Hindu American Foundation
(HAF) has also strongly denounced that police action and said
"the democracy in India is in danger."
The first and foremost responsibility of any
functioning democracy is to protect the civil rights of its
citizens, even when they speak against the sitting
government," Rishi Bhutada, a member of the HAF executive
council, said in a statement.
"When a government acts contrary to that principle, it
risks ruling by tyranny, as seen in the actions of a
government that would attack one of India`s respected Hindu
religious leaders and his unarmed supporters," he said.
HAF`s assistant Director Jay Kansara said that the
gratuitous, middle-of-the-night attack on Baba Ramdev and his
tens of thousands of peaceful supporters was clearly an
attempt to distract attention from the government?s
unwillingness to curb corruption within its ranks.
"HAF has called attention to similarly brutal attacks
on peacefully gathering Hindus in Malaysia before, and is
closely monitoring persecution of Hindus in Pakistan and
Bangladesh - it is an utter shock to see the Congress-UPA
combine emulate such tactics," he said.
In March, HAF leaders testified in support of India`s
human rights record and history of democratic dissent in front
of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.
"It is a sad irony that Saturday`s attack is contrary
to our words in India`s support, and we call upon the UPA
government to reaffirm its commitment to religious pluralism
and democracy in light of this week’s events," HAF said.
PTI
