Ramdev eyewitness describes 'laathi ka barsaat': 'I am ashamed to be Indian'

Editor’s Note: Mithu Roy was one of the thousands of Baba Ramdev supporters who travelled to the Ramlila grounds from around the country. She was in charge of a couple of busloads of followers from around Surat, Gujarat. She spoke to Firstpost from a train on Monday morning as she returned to her hometown. This is her account of the assault on the Ramdev camp and its aftermath, translated from a mix of Bengali and Hindi.

I think this whole raid was pre-planned. All the media people were the first ones removed. They had scoped out the area and knew where they were. All afternoon we had been seeing the police presence increasing slowly. But at that time we were happy. We thought, look, the government of Delhi is making all these arrangements for our safety. We did not know this was what they had in their mind.

There were 56 people in our group. I still don’t know what happened to at least 8 of them. Many of them were simple villagers. They knew nothing about Delhi. Can you imagine their fear?

We had started to sense something was amiss that [Saturday> evening itself. Later we found out about the letters being exchanged between Baba Ramdev and the government. The temperature had somehow changed. Baba told us that evening, “If the government comes to arrest me, what will you do? Will you continue with your fast?” And we said yes.

But when it actually happened, it caught us by surprise. It is not like the police gave us 30 minutes to evacuate the tent, and collect our belongings. Instead there was tremendous pushing and shoving and total panic.

Women were being pulled by their hair. One of our men lost his suitcase with Rs 10,000 in it in the melee. Many people lost their mobiles. Some women hid in the toilet because they were so scared. One woman’s sari was so badly torn that one of the men gave her his jeans to wear. One old lady’s head was cracked open. It was a laathi ka barsaat (a rain of lathis).

The sound system was cut off as well. That added to the chaos. The lights were off at the back of the shibir. There was great confusion. People were screaming and running. If you wake up in the middle of the night in your own house, at least you know where the bathroom is. Here people didn’t know which way to run.

Baba also kept telling us that talks with the government were going well, that they had agreed on 99% of the issues, and only 1% was left. And that the fast would not go on very long. Baba wanted the government to release the names of those who had stashed their black money overseas. The government had the list but is not doing it. Baba said it’s the people’s right to know. But he said the government has been cooperating with us. But instead it stabbed him in the back.

This was Operation Ramdev – it happened under the cover of night like Operation bin Laden. Is Baba some kind of terrorist? Baba was not forcing anyone to fast. Baba always said: whatever you do, do non-violently. We were all there of our own will. Is it a crime now to fast in your own country? Maine apne aap khana chhoda, is mein bhi government ko problem hai? (We abandoned our own meals, is that also a problem for the government?)

So many people had come to meet the Baba. Why did the police not come on stage during the day and arrest the Baba if they needed to? The ministers can go to the airport to meet him. Why not come to Ramlila to meet him onstage?

Look, I am an ordinary person. I don’t know what Baba does or does not do. If the government has issues with Baba Ramdev, they can arrest him. There needs to be a process.

But what did ordinary people like us do? Why lathi-charge ordinary people who are sleeping at night? How much they beat us. Tell me, how many police officers were hurt in this?

Many of the people inside wandered the streets at night [after being thrown out>. Some went to the gurudwara. Some went to the railway station. We could not reach most of them because the charge had died on their phones.

Some members of our group had booked a few rooms outside. Baba had told us those who can afford it can book rooms outside to make more room for people inside the camp. Then they would come back again at 4 am.

Those people came to the camp but they were not being allowed back in. They couldn’t reach the people inside.

Then [Sunday morning> we were told the rooms we had booked were cancelled. The owners of the hotel suddenly said we did not have the right papers. They told us in the morning that our PAN card was not good enough. “We need your voter ID cards,” they said. They said “Madam, please take your luggage and go away.”

I understand what they were trying to do. They were trying to intimidate us. They were saying ‘see what happens if you support the Baba’. They want to make us scared of Swamiji. Dar paida karna tha – swamiji ka saath mat jodo.

I want to go to Haridwar where Baba is fasting again. But I cannot. I need to go to Surat and match all the lists of names of people who came in the buses from there to make sure all the people are accounted for.

People think our memories are short, that we will forget this soon. But that will not happen. When I go back to Surat I want to organise a separate dhikkar-sabha (condemnation gathering) on behalf of the women. Today I feel ashamed to be Indian. What is this country where mothers and sisters are treated like this? Is this our country’s culture?