New Delhi, June 4 (IBNS): India’s most popular yoga guru Baba Ramdev began his anti-graft hunger strike in New Delhi at 7 am on Saturday, after the government failed to convince him that it was doing enough to tackle the “black money” issu.
His main demand, the yoga guru wants Prime Minister’s Manmohan Singh’s government take concrete steps towards repatriating illicit funds of the Indian rich, estimated by him to be around Rs 400 lakh crore, stashed away in offshore banks to avoid taxes.
For the last three days, the government scrambled to win over Ramdev, clearly apprehensive of having a second anti-graft mass protest in two months take shots at its already battered public approval, as it held frantic negotiations with the Baba and his associates.
The ‘fast unto death’ began sharp 7 am at the Ramlila Maidan where thousands of supporters joined Ramdev and many more are expected throughout the day. Former Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Ritambara also shared the stage with him.
Before launching the “satyagraha against corruption”, Ramdev held a yoga and bhajan session during which he told the gathering that his protest intended to “save the country from corruption and ensure that the poor get a good life.”
“Nothing is impossible, everything is possible and we are not going to be defeated,” he said, after he appeared on stage at 4:50 am and was greeted by a huge round of applause from his applause.
The strike to bring back what Ramdev calls “national asset” began after even four hours of talks with top ministers of the Indian government at a five star hotel failed to win him over. However negotiations and “back channel” talks were expected to continue even as the fast went ahead.
Union Ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay met Baba Ramdev on Friday but failed to arrive at a solution as the yoga guru appeared before his followers at Ramlila ground and announced: "The hunger strike will begin and continue till our demands are met."
"Bharat Mata ki jai [Hail the motherland]" he hollered and his followers echoed.
Some media reports said the Prime Minister is approaching the President of India on the crisis.
Ramdev said the "satyagraha" will continue because it is important to save the country from corruption. He said there would be no revolt against any political party but a peaceful movement and hunger strike will continue.
He also warned the government not to try to suppress the movement which he promised will be peaceful.
Earlier in the day Baba Ramdev said corrupts should be given death sentence.
"My mission is neither politically motivated nor communal, nor do I have any underground agenda. Corrupt people have no religion, they are demons. All corrupt ministers should be given the death sentence,” Ramdev told a massive gathering.
Clarifying his stand, Ramdev said: "I am not crossing the limits of Yoga. Not lying and stealing is also part of yoga and I am trying to bring those who have crossed that limit back within the limit."
He also comment on other political issues, demanded higher education in Indian languages and called land acquisition laws to be reformed.
"Not a single inch of land should be taken from the farmers without their consent," he said, criticizing the old law.
He said his movement was impartial and not communal.
"The arrangements that you see here is not from black money. This is not a foreign company sponsored movement. This is not sponsored by Coca Cola or Pepsi," he said ahead of his fast-unto-death.
"The tents, the ceiling fans revolving are not with money from the Swiss Bank. They are all people's hard earned money and from their toil," he said.
"This is not a communal or political movement. People are against corrupt and the powerful," he said.
Hitting out at Baba Ramdev’s planned fast against black money, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday said he should give up his yoga practices and become a full-time politician.
"If Ramdev wants to do politics, he should give up yoga. He shouldn’t try to balance politics behind the curtains of yoga; better become a full-time politician,” said Singh.
“As it is he is not a guru any more. He has become a businessman now. He charges Rs. 50,000 for teaching yoga,” he said.
Earlier saffron groups started lending support to the movement of Baba Ramdev with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) activists gearing up to join the fast of Ramdev.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee cancelled his Kolkata visit and remained engaged in diffusing the situation even as the Congress-led government has come under sharp criticism of the Congress party itself for going all out to placate the Baba.
On Thursday it seemed that the Indian government had taken a harder hand to convince Baba Ramdev to not go ahead with his hunger strike as it denied point blank one of his demands and hinted that it would negotiate with the yoga guru only on their own terms.
This was after on Wednesday the government laid out a red carpet welcome in New Delhi to the bearded, saffron-clad yoga star as he descended from a private jet in the airport as the government’s stalwarts including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Telecoms
Minister Kapil Sibal went to receive him.
The seemingly desperate attempt to appease Ramdev, whose business empire of yoga sessions, televisions shows and ayurvedic medicine generates over Rs 180 crore every year and commands a huge fan following, had apparently generated internal dissent within the Congress party.
Claiming a support of one crore people, yoga guru has placed forth a bevy of demands, the prime of which talk about "quantifiable steps" to repatriate Rs 400 lakh core worth of Indian illicit funds supposedly stashed away in offshore banks.
Ramdev has said that this so-called ‘black money’ suspected of being funds paid for bribes or other illegal transactions and stashed away to evade taxes could provide a huge boost to the Indian economy.
“When the black money is brought back, our economy will be so huge, our currency will be so strong that our one rupee will be equal to $50,” he was quoted in an interview earlier this week, where he demanded that the government take firm steps on retrieving the funds.
His other proposals also include withdrawing large denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 that he says are used for illicit transactions, introduce the death penalty for corrupt officials and dispose of graft lawsuits within one year.
Even though some of the demands of the 46-year-old guru, who believes that homosexuality along with Cancer and HIV/AIDS can be cured through yoga, seemed eccentric, the government worked hard to not directly contradict his demands, except the one regarding withdrawing bank notes.
His main demand, the yoga guru wants Prime Minister’s Manmohan Singh’s government take concrete steps towards repatriating illicit funds of the Indian rich, estimated by him to be around Rs 400 lakh crore, stashed away in offshore banks to avoid taxes.
For the last three days, the government scrambled to win over Ramdev, clearly apprehensive of having a second anti-graft mass protest in two months take shots at its already battered public approval, as it held frantic negotiations with the Baba and his associates.
The ‘fast unto death’ began sharp 7 am at the Ramlila Maidan where thousands of supporters joined Ramdev and many more are expected throughout the day. Former Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Ritambara also shared the stage with him.
Before launching the “satyagraha against corruption”, Ramdev held a yoga and bhajan session during which he told the gathering that his protest intended to “save the country from corruption and ensure that the poor get a good life.”
“Nothing is impossible, everything is possible and we are not going to be defeated,” he said, after he appeared on stage at 4:50 am and was greeted by a huge round of applause from his applause.
The strike to bring back what Ramdev calls “national asset” began after even four hours of talks with top ministers of the Indian government at a five star hotel failed to win him over. However negotiations and “back channel” talks were expected to continue even as the fast went ahead.
Union Ministers Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay met Baba Ramdev on Friday but failed to arrive at a solution as the yoga guru appeared before his followers at Ramlila ground and announced: "The hunger strike will begin and continue till our demands are met."
"Bharat Mata ki jai [Hail the motherland]" he hollered and his followers echoed.
Some media reports said the Prime Minister is approaching the President of India on the crisis.
Ramdev said the "satyagraha" will continue because it is important to save the country from corruption. He said there would be no revolt against any political party but a peaceful movement and hunger strike will continue.
He also warned the government not to try to suppress the movement which he promised will be peaceful.
Earlier in the day Baba Ramdev said corrupts should be given death sentence.
"My mission is neither politically motivated nor communal, nor do I have any underground agenda. Corrupt people have no religion, they are demons. All corrupt ministers should be given the death sentence,” Ramdev told a massive gathering.
Clarifying his stand, Ramdev said: "I am not crossing the limits of Yoga. Not lying and stealing is also part of yoga and I am trying to bring those who have crossed that limit back within the limit."
He also comment on other political issues, demanded higher education in Indian languages and called land acquisition laws to be reformed.
"Not a single inch of land should be taken from the farmers without their consent," he said, criticizing the old law.
He said his movement was impartial and not communal.
"The arrangements that you see here is not from black money. This is not a foreign company sponsored movement. This is not sponsored by Coca Cola or Pepsi," he said ahead of his fast-unto-death.
"The tents, the ceiling fans revolving are not with money from the Swiss Bank. They are all people's hard earned money and from their toil," he said.
"This is not a communal or political movement. People are against corrupt and the powerful," he said.
Hitting out at Baba Ramdev’s planned fast against black money, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Friday said he should give up his yoga practices and become a full-time politician.
"If Ramdev wants to do politics, he should give up yoga. He shouldn’t try to balance politics behind the curtains of yoga; better become a full-time politician,” said Singh.
“As it is he is not a guru any more. He has become a businessman now. He charges Rs. 50,000 for teaching yoga,” he said.
Earlier saffron groups started lending support to the movement of Baba Ramdev with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) activists gearing up to join the fast of Ramdev.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee cancelled his Kolkata visit and remained engaged in diffusing the situation even as the Congress-led government has come under sharp criticism of the Congress party itself for going all out to placate the Baba.
On Thursday it seemed that the Indian government had taken a harder hand to convince Baba Ramdev to not go ahead with his hunger strike as it denied point blank one of his demands and hinted that it would negotiate with the yoga guru only on their own terms.
This was after on Wednesday the government laid out a red carpet welcome in New Delhi to the bearded, saffron-clad yoga star as he descended from a private jet in the airport as the government’s stalwarts including Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Telecoms
Minister Kapil Sibal went to receive him.
The seemingly desperate attempt to appease Ramdev, whose business empire of yoga sessions, televisions shows and ayurvedic medicine generates over Rs 180 crore every year and commands a huge fan following, had apparently generated internal dissent within the Congress party.
Claiming a support of one crore people, yoga guru has placed forth a bevy of demands, the prime of which talk about "quantifiable steps" to repatriate Rs 400 lakh core worth of Indian illicit funds supposedly stashed away in offshore banks.
Ramdev has said that this so-called ‘black money’ suspected of being funds paid for bribes or other illegal transactions and stashed away to evade taxes could provide a huge boost to the Indian economy.
“When the black money is brought back, our economy will be so huge, our currency will be so strong that our one rupee will be equal to $50,” he was quoted in an interview earlier this week, where he demanded that the government take firm steps on retrieving the funds.
His other proposals also include withdrawing large denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 that he says are used for illicit transactions, introduce the death penalty for corrupt officials and dispose of graft lawsuits within one year.
Even though some of the demands of the 46-year-old guru, who believes that homosexuality along with Cancer and HIV/AIDS can be cured through yoga, seemed eccentric, the government worked hard to not directly contradict his demands, except the one regarding withdrawing bank notes.
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