Manoj Tiwari

Bhojpuri star Manoj Tiwari was present at the Ramlila Maidan on Saturday to show solidarity with Baba Ramdev when police forcibly cleared the arena after midnight. Tiwari, who was among those injured when the police wielded lathis to remove Ramdev’s supporters, spoke to Amit Bhelari of The Telegraph on his experience.

It has become a nightmare for me. The sight of the lathi-charge haunts me. Whenever I remember the scene, I get goosebumps. Had I not run from the spot, I don’t know what would have happened to me.

I was sleeping in the pandal when suddenly I realised someone was hitting me hard. I woke up to find a policeman striking at me with a lathi. As I got up with a start, I saw Baba Ramdev jumping down from the stage. Fire had broken out on one side of the pandal and teargas was hitting my nose and eyes badly. I thought I would fall unconscious. Children and women were crying and running helter-skelter. The policeman struck me twice on my back with a lathi and thrice on my legs. I started running. Ramlila ground is so big that I was not able to understand where to run. A Baba supporter shouted out to me to run in one particular direction.

I had to run more than four kilometres to save my life. I stopped at Connaught Place and sat on one of the benches near a shop. From there I called a friend and told him that I am stuck. I had to cover my face to hide my identity. I spent almost 40 minutes sitting on that bench before my friend’s car arrived. I went to my friend’s house in Dwarka and switched on the TV to watch the news.

The situation was horrible. People were choking on tear-gas. I don’t know why the Delhi police had to take such a harsh step to evict Baba Ramdev at midnight. I could not sleep the whole night. In the morning, Patanjali Yogpeeth’s Bal Krishna rang up to enquire about me and I learnt from him that Baba was not traceable. The news worried me a lot and he asked me to leave the place as soon as possible. I caught the 7am flight to Mumbai.

My injuries are not visible but my whole body is still aching due to the lathi-beating I got from the policeman. I visited a doctor who informed me that I have not received any internal injury but he advised me to take rest for a few days before resuming shooting.

I had spent the whole of Saturday with Baba Ramdev. He had asked me to return home for the night and come back in the morning but I had insisted that I would sleep on the stage. I am really disappointed with the police action, they did not spare women and children also.