Baba Ramdev freed, but refuses to leave

The Delhi Police on Monday evening lifted the detention from Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and thousands of his supporters after detaining them for several hours as they tried to march towards Parliament protesting against black money and corruption.

Meanwhile, Ramdev refused to leave the Ambedkar Stadium, where he and his followers were kept, demanding food and water to his followers saying the place was a temporary jail.

Ramdev, who kept everyone guessing about his big move till Monday morning, left Ramlila Maidan to gherao Parliament in the afternoon. But he along with his supporters was detained near Ranjit Singh flyover and was shifted to a makeshift jail at Ambedkar Stadium.

He left Ramlila Maidan at 1:15 in the afternoon after the speeches of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) president Sharad Yadav, Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari and Janta Party president Subramaniyam Swamy, extending their support for the movement.
Other parties such as Trinmool Congress, CPI and Shiv Sena also expressed their solidarity with his agitation by calling the yoga guru.

Thousands of his supporters followed him holding the tricolour, but before they could march even a kilometre police blocked their way through DTC buses arranged in advance to detain Baba Ramdev and his supporters.

Finding no way to move further, Ramdev’s supporters sat down on the road and started shouting slogans and singing patriotic song. In the meanwhile, Baba Ramadev was arrested and made to sit in a DTC bus.

Hundreds of Ramdev’s supporters sat down inside and on the roof of the bus making the task for police difficult.

Even as the high voltage drama unfolded, daily commuters had a harrowing experience as
police barricaded all the roads leading towards Ramlila Maidan soon after Ramdev announcement a march towards Parliament.

Several companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF) were also deployed to control Baba Ramdev’s supporters.