BABA RE BABA!

P.S. Chauhan

Though there was an upsurge of instant and spontaneous support for Anna Hajare's India Against Corruption and his demand for a comprehensive and effective Lokpal Bill, the Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev has not elicited such warm response to his satyagrah against corruption and black money in his home district. People in general and the younger generation in particular find it difficult to connect with the movement launched by the saffron clad Baba from the holy city.

After staging a big show in the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi, from where he and his followers were evicted in a police action, the Baba started his fast unto death at his own home turf in the Patanjali Yoga Peeth Bahadrabad on the Haridwar- Delhi National Highway. On the very first day of his fast on June 4, the Baba made a dramatic appearance before the media and his followers, dressed in a woman's salwar, kurta and chunni.

"I do not approve of a sanyasi escaping stealthily in woman's clothes, leaving behind his followers at the mercy of the police. A true sanyasi does not give up saffron clothes in his life time and a true satyagrahi will court arrest rather than run away from the police", says Gaurav Sharma, a B.Com student and president of the students' union in SMJN College, the biggest college in the district.

From day one the Baba's crusade against black money and other issues got mired in controversies due to his past background. "Baba Ramdev talked about his political aspirations in the past and formed Bharat Swabhiman Trust with a view to raising a huge brigade of volunteers believing in aggressive nationalism. I somehow smell a rat in his on-going movement which seems to be politically motivated", remarks Purshottam Sharma Gandhiwadi of Shivpura Kankhal.

Says Anurag Gupta of Ranipur crossing, "I find it difficult to connect with the Baba's demand to discontinue the notes of Rs. 500 and Rs.1000 denominations and direct election of the Prime Minister by the public. The outcry against black money by a person who owns trusts with vast fortunes also does not carry conviction".

Baba's agitation against black money stashed in the foreign banks and other issues has started losing steam here. Hardly a thousand people, and these too mostly from his commercial establishments here, are seen at the spot of Baba Ramdev's fast, though the big guns of the BJP and the VHP, like the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, the state chief minister, Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, the VHP supremo Ashok Singhal and Uma Bharti, have come here to meet him and lend support to his mission. The movement which could have been a public movement against corruption has been vitiated by political implications, with the result that the common people have stayed away from it.

Says Ambrish Kumar, the president of the Krantikari Manch and a former MLA from Haridwar city, "Every movement , whether against corruption or any other issue should start from one's own home. The state government has been in the dock on many issues and the CAG has pointed out the misuse of Rs. 216 crores in the last Kumbh in Haridwar. However, the Baba did not utter a single word against it. I am also against corruption. But we should be impartial while talking about such vital issues and should not adopt partisan attitude".

However, Mahant Rajendra Das, a prominent sant of Haridwar fully supports the Baba. "Yog guru Ramdev has brought about Yoga revolution in the country. Now he is carrying on a relentless crusade against corruption. We are solidly with him in this great mission", says the mahant.

The fast of the Baba may or may not yield the desired result, but he has definitely given an opportunity to his detractors to target him with allegations regarding his assets and many other issues, including those about his close associates, all under scanner these days.

(At the time of filing this report, he was shifted to Jolly Grant Himalayan Institute, on account of his falling health)