Fasting yoga guru Baba Ramdev continued to get politically isolated with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav describing him as a “trainer not a yogi.” Earlier, the DMK too had slammed the hi-flying yoga guru while the AIADMK has maintained a stoic silence over his so-called anti-corruption crusade.
Hardening its stand, the Congress will now go on the offensive against the communal forces backing Mr Anna Hazare and Ramdev. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee will kickstart a nationwide campaign against Ramdev and Mr Hazare and their “designs”. While the RSS and BJP rallied behind Baba Ramdev, the Congress has decided to take the battle to saffron-ruled states by holding rallies and meetings.
On Saturday, speaking in his inimitable style, the RJD chief said: “Ramdev is not a yogi or a baba. He is a trainer.” The RJD leader added: “He (Ramdev) claimed to teach ashtang yoga but what he did that night was kudan yoga after the police entered the camp. The monk got frightened. Why did he escape in a female dress?”
Echoing the words of Mr Digvijay Singh, the RJD leader also said that Baba Ramdev “fell prey to the designs of the RSS and the Sangh Parivar who have virtually destroyed him”. The Congress will hold a rally at Raipur on June 26.
Meanwhile, Baba Ramdev was said to be in a stable condition at the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences in Dehra Dun where he was rushed on Friday. The Art of Living guru, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, met him and urged him to end his fast.
On expected lines, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani came out in open support of Ramdev in his blog. It was Mr Advani who had raised the issue of black money back in 2008. Ramdev was merely carrying forward Mr Advani’s campaign.
If Mr Advani reiterated his support to the yoga guru, the RSS, expressed concern at his “deteriorating” health and urged him to end his fast. In his blog, Mr Advani tried to equate Baba Ramdev and Mr Hazare’s campaign with that of Jayaprakash Narain’s movement. “These days, Baba Ramdev’s movement is being dubbed an RSS-sponsored one. Let no one forget that even Jayaprakash Narain had to hear similar noises when he was leading the anti-emergency movement,” Mr Advani blogged. “Only a cornered government unable to defend its misdeeds before an angry populace and a desperate leadership can behave in this manner,” he wrote.