After crackdown,Ramdev’s followers split

Several people,who had turned up for the agitation,said they came to Bangla Sahib after police rejected their request to protest peacefully at Jantar Mantar. Chandra Sahay (33) from Jharkhand said,“From 4 am to 6 am,we sat on the road outside Ramlila Maidan. Later,we headed for Jantar Mantar and finally came here.”

Chandreshwara Pandey (62),who came from Bihar to participate in the demonstration,said Ramdev’s swamis asked him and several others waiting on the road to head towards Jantar Mantar

“But police stopped us at a crossing near Jantar Mantar. Then we came to Bangla Sahib. Policemen are still around and keeping a watch,but we are not going to break our fast. We will go to Jantar Mantar. I am ready to even go to jail now,” he said.

Talwar Singh of the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Prabhandak Committee told Newsline at least 10,000 supporters came to the shrine on Sunday. Authorities at the gurdwara,where langar is served to people,said they had to cook more than double the food they usually do on Sundays to feed the crowds that turned up.

“We used 40 sacks of wheat of 90 kg each,when usually on Sundays,it is not more than 20 to 22 sacks. Generally,we prepare 300 kg of rice on Sundays,but today,we prepared 700 kg. We also cooked 10 quintals of vegetables,though it normally does not go beyond six quintals,” said Gurbachan Singh,chief of langar operations.

Sikandar Gopi,who came to Delhi from Jharkhand,said he reached the gurdwara after police tried to whisk him away from Ramlila Maidan. “All of us were stuffed into a police bus. When we came to know that they were taking us out of Delhi,we protested and made them stop. We then walked to Bangla Sahib because we did not have any money,” he said.

After the police took action,several supporters from other states were too disappointed to stay in the city anymore. According to New Delhi railway station authorities,supporters continued to leave in batches through the course of the day.

While several supporters spent the day at a park near Ramlila Maidan,others took shelter at an Arya Samaj facility in Paharganj.

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