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SC Issues Notice To Centre On Ramdev’s Eviction

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The Supreme Court called on the government on Monday to explain why it sent hundreds of police to end a peaceful anti-graft protest by a popular yoga guru and his followers, spelling more trouble for embattled Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Around 600 police broke up a mass hunger strike led by Swami Ramdev in New Delhi early on Sunday, detaining the guru and putting him on a plane to his home state. Dozens of followers and police were injured. Tapping into spiralling voter anger about corruption as Asia's third largest economy booms, Ramdev has called on the government to pursue billions of dollars in illegal funds abroad, and introduce tough anti-corruption legislation. He pledged to fast until his demands were met. The court's action suggests it has reservations about the raid. In recent months, the court has become more active in reprimanding the government on issues from probing corruption to how it appoints senior members. Ramdev's campaign was the latest embarrassment for a Congress Party-led coalition hit by graft scandals including allegations of kickbacks at the Commonwealth Games and a telecom scam that may have cost the government up to $39 billion in revenues. The handling of the protest is sure to further distract the government from working on reforms needed to modernise the economy, which analysts say economy is growing at around 8% not because of government action, but despite it. The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Monday it would hold peaceful protests across India against the crackdown. "The government has lost the moral authority of the country," BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad told CNN-IBN, attacking Singh's record in office since 2004. Resignation Calls Resisted Singh has so far resisted calls for his resignation, and his party is unlikely to force him out because it does not have a credible successor to immediately take over. Congress, re-elected in 2009 and not due to face national polls until 2014, can also count on its allies in Parliament to carry on backing it, because they too would be punished in a snap election. Neither Singh nor the leader of the Congress party, Sonia Gandhi, have made any statement since the protest controversy began last week. The crackdown has drawn condemnation from opposition parties on the left and right, as well as civil society and the media. "The midnight police swoop on yoga exponent and telestar ‘Baba' Ramdev and his supporters was arbitrary, brutal and anti-democratic," influential newspaper The Hindu said in an editorial. "Every Act and Scene of the tragicomedy, L'affaire Ramdev, has exposed the political bankruptcy of the United Progressive Alliance government." Opposition parties called on Gandhi and Singh to apologise to the nation. Ramdev has announced he is going back to fasting against corruption and popular social activist Anna Hazare has also said he would start a fast on 8 June in the Capital. Hazare carried out a successful fast in April, striking a chord with millions of Indians and forcing the government to make concessions on an anti-graft bill that effectively gives India an independent ombudsman to battle corruption. Hazare later said he would pull out of negotiations with the government over the bill to protest the treatment of Ramdev. (Reuters)