The Delhi Police said it was a potential law and order problem… over 50,000 people and more pouring into the Ramlila Maidan whose capacity was about 30,000.
Strange. In 1971(December 10th ,I think), Indira Gandhi addressed a mammoth rally of “lakhs” and won an uproarious applause for the defiant statement against ‘which-so-ever great power’ tried to interfere in the Bangladesh war. The not so veiled reference was to the US which had dispatched the USS Enterprise of the 7th Fleet towards the Bay of Bengal.
Again, in 1977, Morarji Desai and a number of Janata Party heavy-weights, and other leaders from a ‘spectrum’ of allies, shared their euphoria with a delirious mass of people; “lakhs’ of them had gathered to celebrate the overthrow of the Indira Gandhi government after the Emergency.
From “lakhs” to 30 thousand! The Ramlila Maidan’s capacity has shrunk (among other things like the credibility of the government and the media). Ram’s leela or that of Land-sharks?
Or is it the capacity of the present government to take criticism and absorb protest?
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