Ramlila ground protests

Ramlila ground protests were held at Ramlila Maidan, New Delhi on June 4, 2011 under leadership of Swami Ramdev for satyagraha against black money. It is spearheaded by Swami Ramdev, and supported by other several prominent activists, especially Anna Hazare. His demands are that India's money stashed abroad should be declared as the wealth of the nation. And the act of stashing away illegally-got money in foreign banks should be declared a crime against the state. The nation's wealth stashed in foreign banks should be brought back by India which has sign on to the United Nations Convention against Corruption. It is estimated that around $350bn of illegal money is in foreign banks. He has threatened to hold a "fast unto death" on June 4, 2011. According to Baba Ramdev, 1 crore (10 million) Indians will be participating in the Satyagrah on 4th June 2011 throughout India.

Background

On March 16, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued its manifesto, which said that (if it came to power) it would “launch a drive to unearth black money, especially those (sic) stashed in Swiss banks and other tax havens”. The issue was taken up by Sharad Yadav of Janata Dal (United), who said on March 27 that there were 1.47 trillion dollars hidden by Indians in Swiss banks.

Then L.K. Advani took up the issue in his press conference on March 29. He said that according to Wikipedia, illicit money lodged in Swiss banks totaled $2.6 trillion (Rs 130 lakh crore in today’s exchange rate) in 2001 and $5.7 trillion (Rs 285 lakh crore) in 2007, and that illicit money deposited by rich Indians in Swiss banks and tax havens elsewhere was between $0.5-1.4 trillion (Rs 25-70 lakh crore). In 2006, the most recent Global Financial Integrity study showed that the average amount stashed away from India annually during 2002-06 is $27.3 billion (about 136,466 crore).

Bharat Swabhiman Yatra

Swami Ramdev started Bharat Swabhiman Yatra, covering one lakhs of kilometers in India for strengthening anti-corruption movement. The government has been under pressure over corruption for the last year after a series of scandal. 32 lakh (3.2 million) netizens have join Baba Ramdev's campaign against corruption.

Time line

June 1

Four senior Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, P K Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay meet Baba Ramdev and discuss issues at Delhi Airport.

June 2

Back-channel talk between two sides were held.

June 3

Taks are held between government ministers and Ramdev and both sides claim consensus. Government gives item wise response to the demands. Ramdev plans to go ahead with hunger strike.

June 4

At Ramlila Maidan the past begins. In a press conference in the evening the Kapil Sibbal makes public a letter from Ramdev's camp to call of the hunger strike. Ramdev takes it as a betrayal and hardens positions.

Midnight of June 4-5

A large police force using tear gas and lathicharge evicted the crowd at 1am to 4 am. Ramdev is taken in police custody. The protesters remain non-violent.

Police action to break up the hunger strike

At midnight in the Ramlila ground hundreds of policemen swooped down and forcibly removed Ramdev. They dispersed the supporters with tear gas and batons. Section 144 was imposed in the area.

Government's response

Earlier the ruling government was talking to Baba Ramdev, but later on June 5 night, it used force to break the strike. Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on called Baba Ramdev a "cheat". According to him the government had reached an agreement before the protests were launched. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote to him asking to cease and desist from holding the protests. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general secretary Tariq Anwar - "Both Hazare and Ramdev are blackmailing the government and they should first peep into their own hearts,"

Other political parties response

• Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): The party called the police action to break up the hunger strike "undemocratic".

Civil society response

Civil society leaders like Arvind Kejriwal also termed the use of police force of non-violent sleeping protesters as undemocratic. Shanti Bhushan and Swami Agnivesh also criticised the police action to end the hunger strike

Protests in other parts of country

Banglore: Rally was organized in Bangalore in support of Baba Ramdev

Affects and Aftermath

As a response and support to the Ramlila ground protests the BJP have declared a 24 hours Satyagraha throughout country.

See also

• Indian black money
• 2011_Indian_anti-corruption_movement

References

• ^Emergency in India- A Brief Report by techite.com