In a seeming bid to preempt any move by yoga guru Baba Ram Dev to stage a demonstration in Uttar Pradesh, the UP administration clamped Section 144 of CrPC in all districts falling under the national capital region late Monday evening. Under this section, assembly of four or more persons at any public place is banned.
Prohibitory orders were imposed in Ghaziabad, Noida, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur, thereby virtually plugging every possible route that the Baba could take to enter UP from Haridwar.
However, top officials in Lucknow denied having anything to do with the clamping of section 144 which bans assembly of four or more persons at any public place.
"Such decisions are necessarily taken at the local district level and the state government does not have any role to play in that", explained a senior official in the chief minister's office.
However, sources claimed that the district magistrates went ahead with the order only after taking a clear nod from the highest level in Lucknow.
They said that the idea behind the move was to prevent any direct confrontation with the Baba, who had on Sunday, made an attempt to drive down to Noida to stage a demonstration on the threshold of Delhi where his entry has been banned for 15 days.
With section 144 now clamped in a large part of western UP, the Mayawati administration could use it as an alibi for denying Ram Dev any permission to stage a 'satyagrah' in the neighourhood of New Delhi.
Reacting sharply to the move, UP state Bharatiya Janata Party President Surya Pratap Shahi said "The state government's move to put all major western UP districts clearly indicates that the Bahujan Samaj Party government is supporting the undemocratic Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to thwart Ramdev's efforts to bring back the black money stashed in foreign accounts to the country.''
He added, "On one hand, Mayawati condemned the action against Ramdev and on the other hand she herself denied permission to the yoga guru for holding a satyagrah in Noida, which reflects her double standards."
