As the pitch of the BJP’s 24-hour satyagraha heightened and a patriotic song, Yeh Desh Hai Veer Jawano Ka, was played to keep the atmosphere charged late on Sunday night at Rajghat, senior leader and Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj broke into a jig. She swayed to the beats with the BJP youth wing chief Mr Anurag
Thakur. Party functionaries with leaders like Vijendra Gupta and others clapped away and as she ended her performance to the patriotic song, there were sounds of people whistling. During late night, some senior BJP leaders, reportedly went home, “to take medicines” and were back after that.
The Union health minister, Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad, took a dig at the BJP’s satyagrah and said: “The BJP have no sympathy for Ramdev. They are dancing at Rajghat.” He wondered “ whether it is for celebration or mourning or they dancing for Ramdevji’s arrest...” AICC general secretary, Mr Janardan Dwivedi said: “What kind of fast is this, when the leader of the Opposition is dancing along with her friends at Gandhi samadhi.” Her dancing, however, has not gone down well with some top leaders of the party, though they chose top keep quiet.
Ms Swaraj, however, was “shocked” to see the television channels highlighting her dance. The Leader of the Opposition tweeted saying that she was “shocked that the dancing is the sole clipping picked up as representative visual of the satyagraha.” She went on: “It is the tradition of our party that we sing patriotic songs during all our protests.”
Meanwhile, as the 24-hour-fast, protesting police action against Ramdev at Ramlila Grounds ended on Monday evening, the BJP-led NDA submitted a memorandum to President Pratibha Patil on Monday. The party demanded convening of a special session of Parliament and alleged that the “democracy is under threat from a vicious government.” The delegation, which highlighted the “barbaric attack on peaceful supporters of Baba Ramdev” by Delhi police in its memorandum, accused the UPA government of attacking civil liberties. The NDA wants the incident as well as the issue of black money to be discussed during this special session.
The NDA memorandum stated that the Opposition favoured passage of a resolution declaring all Indian money stashed away in foreign banks as a national asset. The delegation was led by NDA working chairman L.K. Advani. While speaking to the media, Mr Advani said: “The session will give us the opportunity to put our point of view and the government will also get a chance to present its views so that the guilty can be punished.”