Taking a dig at Baba Ramdev’s luxurious lifestyle, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Saturday slammed the yoga guru’s fast against corruption by calling it a “five star satyagraha”.
“The Baba travels in a private jet, stays in a five-star luxury hotel, and has the money for such arrangements before going on a fast. This is surely a five-star satyagraha as you doubt his credibilty,” the senior leader said.
He also questioned Ramdev’s “strong affiliations with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)”. “The foot soldiers in the fast are from the RSS. It is evident that he is piggybacking on the RSS,” he said. The yoga guru began his fast on Saturday morning at the capital’s Ramlila ground. He has been demanding that the government take urgent steps to bring back black money stashed abroad by Indians and also take effective measures to curb rampant graft in the country.
“So we all know who is sponsoring this and who he is trying to propagate,” Singh said.
The Congress leader also sought to project the Baba as regressive.
He said while the world is clamouring to learn English to compete in the global economy, the Baba wants medical and engineering education in regional languages “and I want to ask him where he wants to take the country.”
On the estimate of black money, he said he failed to understand who has given the figure of Rs 4 lakh crores.
“BJP leader L.K. Advani is saying Rs 17 lakh crores. BJP is giving some other figure. Tell us, who gave you this figure. What is the original figure?,” Digvijay asked.
Singh also projected the yoga guru as an ignorant man.
“Firstly Baba himself is not aware of what the issues are, what the system is, how the government functions. I pity BJP’s mind, they have also run a government. Is it possible to resolve all points raised by Baba? I want to ask BJP’s (Nitin) Gadkari.”
He said Advani can tell whether the Baba’s demand to continue his hunger strike till the Rs 4 lakh crores money stashed abroad is returned was reasonable.
He also asked the Baba, who is agitating against black money, as to why he established an ashram in Mauritius, which is a known tax haven.