Ink thrown at Ramdev,1 arrested

Ramdev had called the press conference to share his views on black money in the context of the Assembly elections in five states. Siddiqui had sat through the proceedings on a front seat. Immediately after the yoga guru and politician Subramaniam Swamy wound up the proceedings,Siddiqui asked him a question on the 2008 Batla House encounter,where suspected terrorists were killed.

Ramdev ignored the question. As a few journalists moved closer to the podium,Siddiqui also advanced,saying “hatiye-hatiye” (move aside). Then he opened a small bottle of ink and threw the contents on Ramdev’s face.

Taken aback,Ramdev asked: “What have I done to deserve this?”

Even as his aides wiped the ink off his face with a towel and escorted him out,Siddiqui was dragged out and beaten up. Mediapersons,in their eagerness to shoot the incident,added to the confusion.

Ramdev’s supporters were still beating Siddiqui when a police Gypsy started moving towards the spot. The assault did not stop even when policemen surrounded Siddiqui and began pushing him into the vehicle.

When asked to comment,Ramdev said,“I had asked for black money stashed abroad by Indians,but instead,I got black ink. Those who fight for the truth have to pay the price. We are fighting to get black money back into the country,and this incident will not affect my campaign.”

Siddiqui’s brother Mohammad said,“What Kamran did was wrong,but Ramdev’s supporters shouldn’t have taken the law into their hands. They have broken his nose and teeth. Ramdev is misleading the nation because he himself has money stashed abroad.”

Meanwhile,politicians cutting across various party lines condemned the incident. Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had a different take on the issue. “I saw the incident on the TV and it appears as if the entire thing was executed with a well-thought-out political motive. Kamran Siddiqui,who runs an NGO,has a history of being anti-Congress. The attack was orchestrated to bring the spotlight back on Ramdev,” he said.

While the Congress general secretary did not condemn the incident,party spokesperson Rashid Alvi expressed the hope that police would take an appropriate action on the matter. He said: “Whatever happened was very unfortunate… Everybody has the right to express his view,but if anybody has done anything wrong,I condemn it.”

BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “People do such things for cheap publicity. The police should investigate the incident.”