NEW DELHI: Police on Feb.25 lathi charged and teargased BJP activists at several places to foil their bid to hold a rally at Boat Club in defiance of a ban and massive security arrangements.

Normal life was paralyzed and the entire city won a deserted look as police set up road blocks to prevent BJP supporters who had gathered at five points in the Capital from reaching the rally venue, near Parliament House.

Police also used rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse the activists at Rajinder Nagar, Rafti Mary and near New Delhi railway station.

BJP President Muli Manohar Joshi and 50 BJP supporters were injured in clashes with police while L.K.Advani, Atal Behari Vajpayee and some other party leaders were arrested. Vajpayee, B.L.Sharma “Prem” along with 200 supporters were released in the evening.

After a round of the city, Internal Security Minister Rajesh Pilot claimed the situation in and around the Capital was “peaceful, fully under control and the BJP sponsored rally to a flop.”

However, BJP leaders claimed the rally had been a “success” despite the measures taken by the

Government and said it would observe “ant repression day” on Friday to protest against alleged police highhandedness.

The BJP claimed that more than 100,000 people had come out on the streets to take part in the rally.

In the tightest ever security ring in the Capital, 18 MPs of various parties returning from a breakfast meeting with President §.D.Sharma at Rashtrapati Bhavan, were prevented by police from going (o Parliament for five hours.

Police resorted to teargasing and causing several places in the capital to stop BJP workers from proceeding to Boat Club and the party claimed that about 500 of their activists were injured.

While the authorities claimed that they were able to foil the BJP’s designs, the party leadership asserted their program was a total success despite the “terror” tactics adopted by the Government.

Police chief M.B. Kaushal, who claimed that some 3,000 arrests were made, said there were only a few cases of teargasing and lathicharge and the situation was totally under control. He denied any excesses by the police. The rally just petered out, he said.

The BJP charged the police with taking about 1 500 BJP workers to Tihar Jail, not arresting them and leaving them outside the jail. A group of 200 BJP workers from Tamil Nadu suffered a similar fate and 15 of them suffered fractures in police lathicharge, group’s leader L.Ganesan, Vice-president of the Tamil Nadu unit of BJP alleged here.

A determined police force chased the BJP workers inside the lanes using special type of teargas shells which were lobbed like hand grenades after lathicharge failed to push the protestors.

Article extracted from this publication >>  March 5, 1993