Jaipur, Aug 09: In a pre-dawn action, police arrested 190 activists of the Social Justice Forum, including its President and suspended BJP MLA Devi Singh Bhati, in apprehension of breach of peace during Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's public meeting here tomorrow. Bhati, suspended by the BJP for ''anti-party activities'' earlier this week, was on an indefinite hunger strike along with the others since August 6. The SJF had threatened to disrupt Mr Vajpayee's public meeting if its demands were not accepted.
Besides Bhati, ex-MP Mahendra Singh and Sarv Brahman Mahasabha President Suresh Mishra were among those arrested under Section 151 of the CRPC.
According to SJF sources, while a few hundred activists were bundled into buses and trucks and taken outside Jaipur, nearly 200 were taken to the Jaipur central jail. All of them were later produced before a sub-divisional magistrate who remanded them to judicial custody.
Vajpayee is scheduled to arrive here in afternoon tomorrow. Meanwhile, state BJP vice-president Onkar Singh Lakhawat said, ''It is Congress conspiracy to cause disruptions at Vajpayee's meeting. It is for the state government to decide how to deal with troublemakers.''
As news of Bhati's arrest spread, a handful of SJF and Sarv Brahman Mahasabha activists assembled outside the central jail and began raising slogans against the state and central governments.
Bureau Report