Congress, BJP condemn black ink attack on yoga guru Baba Ramdev

New Delhi, Jan.14 (ANI): The ruling Congress party and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday condemned the black ink attack on yoga guru Baba Ramdev at New Delhi's Mavlankar Hall, but also used the opportunity to score points over each other on issues of black money and corruption.

"It is becoming a common phenomenon for individuals to commit such incidents to get publicity and government should act firmly against the culprits. Such incidents were seen in the case of lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Union Minister Sharad Pawar," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He pointed that other than the increasing instances of such incidents, there is also a "lurking suspicion" that the today's attack has been prompted by the crusade launched by Ramdev against black money and corruption. "Sometime ago, we have witnessed Ramdev and his followers being lathi-charged and forcefully evicted from Ramlila grounds and police terror being unleashed on them allegedly at the behest of the Central government," Rudy said.

He maintained that the BJP is "constrained" to believe that today's incident could be an outcome of the designs of the UPA government, which is suspected of retaliating against those who are raising a banner of revolt against corruption and black money.

The Congress also condemned the incident, but insisted that the attack on Baba Ramdev had nothing to do with opposition to the government from some quarters on corruption issues.

"Whatever has happened, it is very unfortunate...Everybody has a right to express his view and if anybody has done anything wrong I condemn it and I am sure law will take its own course," Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi said. (ANI)