The Centre, which on Monday had gone ahead with a scheduled meeting of the Lokpal Bill joint drafting committee despite a boycott by its civil society members, sent another tough signal on Tuesday with the Delhi police refusing permission to Anna Hazare for holding a 24-hour protest fast at Jantar Mantar on Wednesday. The police said it could not be allowed as prohibitory orders are in force across the entire New Delhi district.

But with satyagrahas in vogue across the nation as a way of voicing grievances, Mr Hazare and his group were undeterred by this, and have now decided to hold their day-long hungerstrike — in protest against the crackdown on Baba Ramdev and his followers — at Rajghat, Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi, which is outside the zone where Section 144 CrPC is in force. The police did not voice any objection to this.
This will be the third major fast in the nation’s capital in the past five days — after Baba Ramdev’s fast on Saturday at the Ramlila Grounds, the BJP held a 24-hour protest at Rajghat on Sunday-Monday. (This, incidentally, ran into a controversy after Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj broke into a midnight jig there.)
The civil society group’s decision to shift the venue to avoid a confrontation with the police was announced by his associates Arvind Kejriwal, Prashant
Bhushan and Kiran Bedi, who contended though that denial of permission for their protest at Jantar Mantar was a denial of the basic constitutional rights. The fast at Rajghat will start at 10 am on Wednesday and be accompanied by an all-religion prayer meeting and a debate on the Lokpal Bill.
The civil society members also appeared taken aback by the government’s decision to go ahead with the joint committee meeting without their participation, and said: “We will not leave the committee.”
In Hardwar, meanwhile, with the government toughening its stand and with reports of investigating agencies planning take a a look at the yoga guru’s assets and business dealings, Baba Ramdev’s tone appeared to have considerably softened towards the government. After breathing fire against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the police action against him, he said on Tuesday that he had “forgiven the Prime Minister for his political sin”. But more trouble appeared in store for Baba Ramdev with reports circulating of his close aide Balakrishna having allegedly provided fake documents to acquire his passport.
The Congress sharpened its attack on Baba Ramdev on Tuesday with AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh calling him a “cheat”, and claiming that the RSS had “organised the entire campaign ... to divert attention after the outfit’s links with terror activities were exposed” Another AICC general secretary, Mr B.K. Hariprasad, also claimed that Baba Ramdev’s agitation was aimed at “creating Godhra-like communal violence”.
The BJP kept its guns trained firmly on the government. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley launched a scathing attack on the ruling side, describing the the government as a “headless chicken”. He said the Prime Minister was acting like a “CEO” and operating “on the orders of the (company) owner”. Mr Jaitley felt there were “structural contradictions in the ruling dispensation”.
High drama was witnessed in Hardwar as Baba Ramdev’s aide Balakrishna, who was missing for three days, surfaced on Tuesday as the passport controversy erupted and claimed that he was “an Indian of Nepali origin” and that he was “born in Hardwar”. He then broke out into tears. In a desperate bid to evoke sympathy, he said: “Meri awaz kamzor ho gayee hai (My voice has weakened)” as his voice rose and fell. After some time, faced with a barrage of questions from the media, he left the press conference but said he was not trying to flee. “Maine kuchch nahi khaya, main sach bol raha hun. Main mauj masti nahi kar raha tha (I am telling the truth, I have not eaten anything. I was not enjoying myself),” he said, reading from a prepared text. Asked where he had been for the past few days, Balakrishna claimed he “was in Delhi, hiding somewhere” as he feared the police would arrrest him. Then he added: “Main dhool mitti mein pada tha (I was lying in dust).” Where in the dust? “Ek ashram mein (In an ashram).”