Silence at the top echelons of the state government on the ongoing controversy over the death of two kids of the Asaram Bapu Ashram is set to snowball into a long drawn political battle, with support pouring in from many quarters on Saturday.

Amid allegations that the government is going soft on Asaram Bapu — both in the investigations into the deaths and the violence by his supporters on Friday — due to political reasons, supporters of the aggrieved Vaghela family demonstrated before the residence of Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday.

Backed by the Congress, with its city president Pankaj Shah present there, the demonstration turned violent with the protestors resorting to stone pelting. The police had to baton-charge to disperse the mob.

In a statement later in the evening, the party sought an explanation as to why the government was silent despite so much turmoil on the ground.

BJP rebels Sunil Oza, Siddharth Parmar, and Gordhan Zadaphia also jumped into the fray, demanding a CBI inquiry into the deaths, an apology from the BJP for state chief Purshottam Rupala's statement belittling the deaths as a "small incident". They also sought action against the police and the perpetrators of Friday’s violence within 24 hours.

With Saturday's spontaneity of support to the media protest, the government however, showed signs of some action with top Home department officialdom meeting Director General of Police P C Pande at the Secretariat. Sources in the government informed that there was all likelihood of the investigation being given to the Criminal Investigation Department.

The areas affected by Friday's violence in which the media was also attacked falls in the Lok Sabha constituency of the Leader of Opposition and BJP's prime ministerial candidate, L K Advani. Yet, while Chief Minister Narendra Modi attended two pre-planned events in Chotila (Rajkot) and Kathlal (Nadiad), Home Minister Amit Shah maintained silence. Asaram Bapu had supported the BJP when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had distanced itself from helping the party in electioneering in Gujarat. Sources inform that this could be adding to the ambivalence on taking a stricter action.

Police, which remained mute on Friday, swung into action when media protested...
Over 300 journalists from Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar courted arrest here on Saturday to protest against the Friday's attack by the followers of Asaram Bapu that had left half a dozen media persons injured. Representing both print and electronic media, the journalists marched from the Sabarmati police station to the Asaram Ashram. Carrying placards denouncing the attack, they shouted slogans in support of media freedom. The protest attracted spontaneous support from the residents of the Sabarmati-Motera neighbourhood with locals joining in with a high voltage sloganeering of Asaram hai-hai. Such was the grassroots anger against the spiritual guru that the police swung into action and prevented journalists from moving further. Unlike Friday, when a posse of policemen remained mute spectators as a helpless television reporter and other media persons were bashed up by lathi wielding goons from the Ashram, a concerned police force prevented journalists from proceeding to the Ashram fearing another round of violence. Over 150 journalists were detained midway and brought back to the Sabarmati police station. With the media protest providing an opportunity for the opposition political parties to attack the government, Home Minister Amit Shah made a statement from Navsari that no culprit involved in the attack will be allowed to go scot-free. Following the minister's assurance, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner O P Mathur released a statement in the afternoon. He said that based on scrutiny of video footage, pictures and narration of events of Friday, the police will take strict action against those involved in the incident.