Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Saturday went on the backfoot as the government released a handwritten letter signed by his close aide Acharya Balkrishna in which it is claimed that an agreement has been reached and the agitation would be limited only to “tap” (meditation) for three days beginning June 4.
As Baba Ramdev wanted that the letter to be kept secret, after its release he accused the government of betraying and cheating him. He announced that “never in his life he would talk to Union minister Kapil Sibal”. One being asked if he did not keep his followers in the dark about the letter, Baba Ramdev refused to give a direct reply while saying that since no written commitment was there, there was no need to talk about the letter.
While releasing the letter signed by Acharya Balkrishna, HRD minister Kapil Sibal, who has been the main negotiator from the government side, said, “All agreements were reached yesterday and Acharyaji gave us assurance in writing that they will only hold meditation (tap) for two days from June 4 and he will make an announcement to this effect by Saturday afternoon. We waited for his announcement till the evening and since he did not do it, we decided to hold this press conference.”
In the letter, Acharya Balkrishna has written that it has “the consent of Swami Ramdev”. It said, “Whatever issues which we put before the government, it has given us written reply.”
The letter also mentions Baba Ramdev and his team is in agreement with the government that the government will not only consider the issues seriously, but also assured that concrete steps would be taken in this regard. “On some issues we do not have full agreement, but we believe that whatever assurances have been given, the government will remain committed to those and on a few other issues it will fulfil commitment in a fixed timeframe,” the letter said.