“Today in this country, a troop of 10 crore people are directly connected with me. They are connected not because of any religious leaning, but because I have made them aware of the reality. I have been fighting against this corruption for the last five years. I have come here after walking one lakh kilometres. Ramdev has not dropped suddenly from the sky. He lives on the ground and has worked his way up from the grassroots level”, said Baba Ramdev during the ‘Walk the Talk’ interview with Shekhar Gupta, for NDTV.

He added, “According to my calculation, around Rs 400 lakh crore black money is stashed outside the country. Our country should get the money back. This is no small amount. It’s not just my opinion; it’s also the opinion of those who study the economy… Whenever people adopt the path of truth, others call them mad. At least people are not calling me mad. And what I’m saying will be proved right. You’ll see in the coming days that people who have committed these sins and have betrayed the nation will be exposed.”

The Indian National Congress, reputed more for its corruption than service to the nation, was caught unawares by the people silently rallying behind Baba Ramdev. Swamiji has been travelling to every nook and corner of this country, teaching Yoga and campaigning against corruption in general, particularly the vital issue of bringing back crores of black money stashed abroad.

After winning the 2009 general elections, the Congress-led UPA, in a show of arrogant authority, indulged in unprecedented looting of the exchequer. While the sufferings of the people increased in every aspect, the enjoyment of the corrupt and filthy rich also increased. Politicians, film personalities, industrialists, cricket-gamblers and foreign funded NGOs, et al, swam in thousands of crores of money, making an ‘ass’ of the law, and through them, smugglers and black marketers also made huge fortunes.

As scam after scam tumbled out of the UPA cabinet, the nation began fuming with anger. The 27 February 2011 rally by Baba Ramdev proved a huge success, as lakhs of people, fed up with political parties, thronged the Ramlila Maidan. Getting information about this well in advance through intelligence agencies, the signora leading the Congress sent her minions like Arvind Kejriwal and Agnivesh to play spoilsport. Kejriwal prodded the simpleton Anna Hazare to lead a movement for the Jan Lokpal Bill and took him to Baba Ramdev’s Feb. 27 rally where Agnivesh and others were also present. Thereafter, Anna & co. hijacked the movement against corruption from Ramdev.  

So when Anna announced his fast, as scripted by Sonia subordinates, the electronic media built him up with 24x7 coverage. The small time activist from Maharashtra became a “Mahatma” overnight, and Sonia & co were pleased at scuttling the Baba and his movement. But Swami Ramdev realised his error in supporting their programme and quickly regrouped, announcing a fast-unto-death protest. As lakhs of people prepared voluntarily to join him at Ramlila grounds, it was obvious where the real charisma lay. Some Congress leaders pressed the Police not to give permission for any Ramdev programme at Ramlila Maidan, but could not succeed.

Concerned about the welfare of his followers, Baba Ramdev volunteers rushed to make arrangements for basic amenities like bathrooms and toilets (over 500); waterproof shamiana and water (650). The shamiana is expected to cover over 25000 people, and lakhs are expected at the maidan. Sensing the danger, the Government sent four Cabinet ministers to meet Baba Ramdev at Delhi airport itself, as he arrived from Ujjain, to plead with him to withdraw his agitation. Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal, P.K. Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay deliberated with him for more than 2 hours. The Prime Minister appealed to Baba to call off his fast; Swami Ramdev gave them due attention but didn’t relent. The Cabinet has since met to discuss ways and means to contain the fallout of Baba’s fast.

Baba Ramdev’s is a real movement, unlike Hazare’s stage-managed drama. Even for that, Hazare could show some crowd strength only because of mobilization of volunteers of Baba Ramdev, RSS, ABVP and VHP, etc. There also, the secular brigade made an issue of the havans and Bharat Mata picture in the backdrop, and dubious Anna yielded to their pressure and removed them. Now, having failed to suppress Baba, Shahrukh Khan and Shabnam Hashmi, Digvijay Singh and Rashid Alvi, not to mention media cohorts like Vinod Mehta and corporate PR-wallahs like Suhel Seth, have rushed to the aid of the Sonia Congress.

Shahrukh Khan said he would not support Baba Ramdev’s fast, as if his support was sought! He added, “Ramdev has an agenda and as soon as one becomes a leader he resorts to such an agitation” – a clear indication that Shahrukh’s mentors are afraid of the movement. Possibly the actor himself has something to fear; a close associate, Karim Morani, is currently in jail for alleged involvement in the 2G scam!

The rabble rousing Suhel Seth tried to ridicule the Yogi, “Baba Ramdev is resorting to blackmail and he has his own agenda to achieve.” It is well-known that many top corporate honchos have much to hide, including their ill gotten money. They will naturally field surrogates to abort a movement against black money.

In a bid to belittle Baba Ramdev, some 24x7 TV Channels roped in some well-known activists from the secular brigade. Thus, NGO cronies like Shabnam Hashmi waxed eloquent on Baba’s movement. One can expect more such NGO cronies, who thrive on foreign money, to appear on TV to ridicule Baba.

This is the right time for Baba Ramdev to take up the very important point of stopping the entry of foreign funds into India, which benefit churches, mosques and Christian and Islamic NGOs. Well researched analyses on this subject by Prof. R. Vaidyanathan and Shri Sanjeev Nayyar are in the public domain. At the same time, Hindu organizations must be prepared to relinquish the miniscule funds that come their way from foreign countries. Our local contributions are adequate for our needs. Stoppage of foreign funds for Christians and Muslims in India will permanently solve monstrous problems like conversion, terrorism and anti-national activities of third rate NGOs.

Another group which seems terribly scared is the ‘secular’ media mandarins. It was fascinating to watch Vinod Mehta being snubbed by nationalists like Chandan Mitra and Anupam Kher in TV debates on Baba Ramdev’s movement. These secularists are s--t scared of the resounding response from the general public to Baba Ramdev. They have their own interests to safeguard and hence the ugly attempt to thwart the movement.

Digvijay Singh said, “Baba Ramdev is a business man and not a sanyasi.” He added audaciously, “If Congress was scared, Ramdev would have been put behind bars. There is no fear; that is why he is out in the open and there are discussions with him”. This is not the first time Singh has tried to belittle the Yoga Guru. A Christian Congress MP from Arunachal Pradesh called Baba a ‘Bloody Indian’. Then, Rashid Alvi attempted to insult Baba Ramdev by commenting on the huge preparations going on at the fast venue.

On one hand the Prime minister and cabinet are trying to cajole the Yoga guru to withdraw his protest. On the other hand, Digvijay and others badmouth the Baba and his movement. In between, the media makes a fool of itself by trying to convince the people that the government has been trying to placate the Baba without the consent of Congress and keeping Sonia out of the loop. The fact that ministers are appeasing on one side and other leaders are badmouthing on the other shows that Sonia and her party are terribly scared.

Digvijay Singh’s statement that ‘if Congress is scared Baba Ramdev would have been put behind bars’ is revealing. As my friend and writer Radha Rajan correctly inferred, we must correlate this statement with the motivated actions of Congress, including arrests of Hindu sanyasis in the past. Radha Rajan said, “One must thank Digvijay for telling us what the Congress party does to those Hindu sanyasis of whom they are afraid” and asked, “Is that why Sonia Gandhi’s Congress asked Y. Samuel Reddy to allow Jayalalithaa’s scum police to arrest Kanchi Acharya in Andhra Pradesh? Is that why Sonia Gandhi's Congress has arrested and incarcerated Swami Aseemanand and Sadhvi Pragya? Is it because the Hindus in the INC are all Sonia’s bootlickers that Digvijay Singh has the audacity to talk about throwing Baba Ramdev behind bars?”

Meanwhile ‘The Hindu’ (3 June 2011) reported that government was determined to persuade Baba Ramdev through dialogue, else it would consider tough action to make him abandon his hunger strike plans. This implied that the government might arrest the Yoga guru. The report said the government might make use of the fact that Baba Ramdev had sought permission from to hold a yoga camp for 20 days at Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds from June 4, and not for a dharna or a hunger strike. It seems government might arrest Baba Ramdev for “using” that venue “against the government”.

But Baba Ramdev may conduct his yoga camp even while fasting for his demands. Can government really stop that? If a foreign citizen can de facto rule the country against the wishes of the people because of a matrimonial link, why shouldn’t a people’s Guru use his yoga camp for a peaceful strike against this usurper?  

All these politicos, elite, and celebrities are afraid of two things. One, losing their ill-gotten wealth; two, the Hindu identity of this huge movement.

These people projected themselves as “Gandhians” and supported Anna Hazare, knowing he had the backing of St Sonia. But Baba’s unrelenting campaign to bring black money back to India has the “Gandhians” running scared. They also fear ‘Hindu’ identity and the ‘political’ stabilization of the RSS and affiliated organizations, which may destroy their business of ‘secularism’.

Black money has been an issue of serious contention right from the run up to the 2009 Parliament elections. While BJP took some serious steps like forming a ‘Task Force’ (though later Advani apologized to Sonia and belittled himself and the Task Force), Congress simply gave a laid-back commitment that it would bring back the black money within 100 days. Even after two years, the party has not moved an inch on this issue. Sonia and her family’s black money worth has been in the public domain for many years now and she has not seen fit to deny any of the stories, mostly emanating from abroad. The government’s dillydallying on the subject suggests it wants to safeguard the Gandhi family in particular and other fraudsters in general. That is why when Baba Ramdev’s movement gained momentum, as seen during the Feb. 27 rally, Sonia sent her cronies to hijack the movement and partially succeeded. But Baba Ramdev bounced back.

Meanwhile, the dubious credentials of Anna’s colleagues have come out in the open and Baba Ramdev should be cautious in dealing with them. Sonia will bank on Anna to thwart Baba Ramdev. Having shared the stage and accepted Baba’s support earlier, Anna has declared formal support to Baba, and may join him at Ramlila Maidan. But his agenda showed in his warning to Ramdev not to have any truck with RSS and its affiliates. Yet Anna himself accepted RSS support at Jantar Mantar with alacrity.

RSS has since realized its folly and is now fully backing Baba Ramdev, as is the VHP. This nation has been reeling under terrible Western influences, thanks to Nehruvian secularism. In the process it is getting fragmented by alien forces which operate with the connivance of pseudo-secular political parties and mainstream media. In such a scenario, especially when Sonia is preparing to deliver the final blow on the Hindu majority with her “Prevention of Communal violence Act,” Baba Ramdev may rescue the nation.

This is an appropriate time for a Hindu uprising; a great opportunity to stop the flow of foreign money; to bring back the ill gotten wealth of the corrupt; and to assert the Hindu identity of this great nation. Only the reaffirmation of the Hindu civilisational ethos can rescue the country from its present morass.

The writer is senior journalist