Man throws ink at Ramdev for remarks on Delhi shootout

Baba Ramdev reacts with his face smeared with black ink after addressing a news conference in New Delhi yesterday

A man threw black ink on Baba Ramdev yesterday after the yoga guru remarked during a press conference here that that the 2008 Batla House shootout was not fake, police said.
The attacker, Kamran Siddiqui, was detained by the police after he was roughed up by Ramdev’s supporters.
“When Baba said that the Batla House encounter was not fake, Kamran threw ink on him. He lives in south Delhi’s Okhla area and supposedly runs a non-government organisation called Real Cause,” said a senior Delhi police official.
In the September 19, 2008, shootout in Delhi’s Batla House, two alleged Indian Mujahideen members and one police officer were killed in broad daylight. Some local groups and political parties, however, alleged it was a staged shootout.
Ramdev was speaking about black money and corruption during the press conference at the Constitution Club here.
Wiping the ink off his face, a nonplussed Ramdev remarked later: “What have I done to deserve this?”
Ramdev said he had asked for the black money to be returned to the country and instead got black ink.
“Those who fight for truth have to pay the price. We are fighting to get black money back to the country and instead I got black ink...What did I do to deserve this?
“This incident won’t affect me. We will continue to fight against the odds, come what may.”
Several political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) condemned the ink attack on Ramdev.
“The incident is shocking and deserves outright condemnation,” BJP leader Sushma Swaraj posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Party leader Arun Jaitley said the attacker should be sent to jail.
“We strongly condemn it. He (Ramdev) is a big social and religious leader who has a good reputation and is spreading his movement against corruption and black money,” Jaitley told reporters.
“Those opposing can criticise...we condemn attacking such a personality,” he said.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said the practice of attacking personalities was spreading “like a disease.”
“Someone threw a shoe at George Bush, and so all are following it,” he said. “Ramdev is a good person, he has done good work. I condemn the attack.”
He said such attackers needed to be punished.
A top aide of anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare said the attack was an attempt to divert attention from the issue of corruption and black money being raised by Ramdev.
“The person who attacked Ramdev represents the corrupt powers,” Manish Sisodia said. “They have done this so that attention could be diverted from the issue of black money and corruption that Baba Ramdev is raising.”
Hazare himself condemned the attack.
“This is not an attempt to blacken Baba Ramdev’s face, but an attempt to taint the country’s democracy,” Hazare said in a statement.
The 74-year-old leader said that by this incident, the people’s struggle will not be derailed, but will only be spurred ahead.
Hazare said the spotless characters of people cannot be disfigured by some ink which can be washed off in a couple of minutes.
“However, those people whose lives are tainted by corruption, goonda-giri (thuggery) and looting, cannot wash off their stains easily,” he said.
Hazare expressed his full support to Ramdev’s struggle to improve the country and society.
“Carry on, we are with you,” he said.