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Strongly condemning the police action against yoga guru Baba Ramdev, civil rights activist Anna Hazare termed it as "strangulation of democracy" and said civil society will launch protests throughout the country to "teach the government a lesson".
Hazare said he will hold consultations with other civil society activists on the future course of action. His associate Swami Agnivesh said civil society activists will discuss whether it is more important to attend Monday's Lokpal drafting committee meeting or to talk to the government on the greater issue of the necessity of upholding constitutional values.
"There might have been some faults with Baba Ramdev's agitation but at midnight, beating up people -- women, children and elderly -- is a blot on democracy," Hazare told media-persons.
"It is not good for democracy, what crime have they committed...The police crackdown is like strangulation of democracy," he said, questioning why police action was carried out in night and not in day-time.
Hazare, who had rattled the government in April with his hunger-strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, said the time had come to launch a nation-wide protest to teach the government a lesson.
He said there was nothing wrong with protests like hunger-strikes as these strengthen democracy.