NEW DELHI: Baba Ramdev has snubbed the government's peace overtures, and would go ahead with his indefinite hunger strike from June 4 against bringing back black money home.
The yoga guru's followers are emulating social activist Anna Hazare's tactics in garnering public support. Cellphone is the best enabler to drum up support, and about 32.56 lakh people are believed to have registered for the nationwide campaign.
Ramdev's spokesman S K Tijarawala said: "There is no room for calling off the satyagraha because nothing concrete has happened till date. Around 1 crore people from all over the country will join Baba Ramdev in his protest against corruption, and the government's inability to bring back the black money stashed in tax havens abroad."
The government, which gave into Hazare's demand of constituting a joint panel for drafting the Lokpal Bill, recently briefed the wellness expert about the legal hurdles in getting the black money back. Senior government officials, including chairman of the central board of direct taxes Sudhir Chandra, tried to explain the legal implications to Ramdev. Though the yoga guru hailed the talks as "very positive", he has refused to change his plans till some action is taken. He is demanding that the Rs 4 lakh crore stashed in foreign banks rightfully belongs to India citizens, and should be brought back and used for the nation's development.
Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had fired a salvo at Ramdev. He had claimed that the anti-graft crusader should call off his fast since nobody would come forward to break it.
Invoking Gandhiji, Ramdev had earlier written to the prime minister, spelling out his protest plan that would be joined by "lakhs and crores" of people. He had threatened that if there were any casualties during the stir, the government would be held directly responsible.
Since last year, the yoga guru has been on a nationwide tour and his organization has collected signatures, pleading the PM to end graft and bring back black money.
Though the petition was submitted to the President in February, the government swung into action only after Hazare's protest helped it see merit to win over Ramdev with a huge group of followers.
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