M A I N   N E W S

IYC chief hurt in lathi charge
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 28
The President of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, was admitted to the PGI with injuries, after he along with hundreds of Congress workers was lathi-charged by the police here today.

Mr Surjewala, who was leading a protest march of Congress workers to demand the resignation of the NDA government in the wake of the tehelka.com expose, received minor injuries in the leg and was stated to be out of danger. Besides him, 20 protesters (11 according to the police), including three women, were injured. Six police personnel, including Mr Baldev Singh, SP (City), were also injured.

The trouble started when the protesters tried to forcibly remove barricades and started throwing stones at the police. Enraged, the policemen, including Punjab Police commandos, chased the protesters and lobbed tear gas shells. Thereafter, it was a free-for-all with the police and the agitators throwing stones at each other.

Mr Surjewala was caught in the melee and received several lathi blows. Prominent among those injured were Mr Devinder Singh Babbu, president of the Punjab Pradesh Youth Congress Mr Randeep Singh Nabha, convener of the All-India Kisan Cell of the IYC and Mr Jasbir Singh Dimpa, general secretary of the IYC. The police vent its fury on vehicles and the windowpanes of at least six of these, including the car of Mr Chander Mukhi Sharma, president of the Chandigarh Territorial Youth Congress, were broken. Mr Sharma alleged that the police did not use water cannon and straightway resorted to a lathi-charge on the peaceful demonstrators.

Talking to TNS at the PGI, Mr Surjewala termed the lathi charge as a “pre-planned conspiracy” to thwart the peaceful and democratic demonstration by the Congress. He said the IYC cadre would boycott the NDA ministers and the Prime Minister at all public functions.

A memorandum addressed to the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, said the Central Government and the Punjab and Haryana Governments had completely lost the right to govern and they should resign or be dismissed forthwith. The nation’s collective conscience demanded that the BJP-led government must resign forthwith in order to ensure a free, fair and independent probe into the tehelka.com expose.

Rejecting the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 610 per quintal, for wheat, the memorandum alleged that Mr Parkash Singh Badal and Mr O.P. Chautala, who had demanded an MSP of Rs 735 per quintal, had once again bartered away the interests of the farming community.

Earlier, at a rally near Matka Chowk, various speakers demanded the resignation of the NDA government for its failure to check corruption in the Ministry of Defence.

Prominent among those who addressed the rally were Mr Jagjit Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, the B.B. Bahl, president of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee, Mr Surjewala, Mr Nirmal Singh, a former Haryana Minister, Mr Harmohinder Singh Lucky and Mr Ravinder Singh Palli.

Meanwhile, Capt Amarinder Singh, president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, alleged that the police resorted to the lathi-charge on instructions from the Union Home Ministry.