Indian police break up yoga guru's anti-corruption hunger strike

[News_Editor]

Indian police break up yoga guru's anti-corruption hunger strike

2011-06-05 20:54:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- At least 30 people were injured on Sunday when Indian police broke up yoga guru Baba Ramdev's anti-corruption hunger strike in New Delhi, officials in a hospital said.

The protesters were injured in clashes with security personnel and Ramdev supporters, some of whom were carrying iron rods, stones and fire extinguishers. Policemen threw back the stones hurled at them, and also fired tear gas, choking and blinding hundreds.

According to doctors, some 30 mildly injured people were brought to the hospital. Most of the injured suffered wounds on their limbs.

Authorities said that they decided to end the hunger strike because the sprawling ground had been given for a yoga camp and not for protests.

India's most popular yoga guru began his anti-corruption hunger strike on Saturday after a two-hour yoga practice along with thousands of his followers in New Delhi. Tens of thousands of Ramdev's followers also went on hunger strike in Mumbai, Jammu and some other cities in solidarity with him.

The yoga guru wants to repatriate Indian illicit funds supposedly stashed away in offshore banks. Ramdev has said that this 'black money' suspected of being funds paid for bribes or other illegal transactions and stashed away to evade taxes could provide a huge boost to the Indian economy. His other proposals also include introducing the death penalty for corrupt officials and dispose of graft lawsuits within one year.

On Wednesday, the Indian government failed to convince Ramdev to call off his anti-corruption hunger strike. Top ministers invited him to the capital to negotiate his demands since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh feared that an April-like situation, when another anti-corruption five-day hunger strike forced him to give in to his demands, would happen.

In April, Gandhian social activist Anna Hazare launched a similar campaign that forced the government to form a joint panel of ministers and activists to draft a tough ombudsman bill - the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Transparency International ranked India, one of few yet to ratify the United Nations convention against corruption, at 78, placing it below neighboring rival China.

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