Baba Ramdev begins 3-day symbolic fast at Ramlila Maidan

New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Today began his latest round of protest against black money at Ramlila Maidan by announcing a 3 day symbolic fast to press for action on the issue.

“I am announcing first phase of the revolution and we will not leave this until we achieve what we want,” Ramdev announced.

“If there is no action from the government then we will announce the future course of action on the third day of the fast,” Ramdev added.

While demanding black money stashed abroad to be brought back to the country, Baba Ramdev expanded his plan from black money to issues like Lokpal Bill, an independent CBI, and transparency in appointment of Election Commissioners, CAG and CVC.

Waving a bunch of papers and files, Baba Ramdev said Rs 2 lakh crore have been swindled, primarily by corruption in the extraction of natural resources. He claimed that as per information available with him, close to 90 per cent of all dealings in natural resources go unaccounted for.

“The common man does not realise that he is being looted as the swindle is not happening at his home, but we have to realize that the natural resources are the property of the entire nation,” Ramdev stressed.

“We are not here to blame any party nor to dislodge anyone from power, but for the good of the country,” Ramdev said.

“I welcome Sonia Gandhi to join the movement,” the yoga guru added.

Sounding confident with thousands of people having gathered at the protest venue, Ramdev said, “Thousands of people will come on the streets after 5 pm to lend their support to the movement.”

Baba Ramdev’s protest comes close on the heels of social activist Anna Hazare’s surprise decision to wind up Team Anna.

“Anna Hazare was there and is still with us in the fight, Ramdev said.

“We welcome Justice Santosh Hegde and Kiran Bedi as this andolan is not to make any person an issue, but to make the system an issue and it needs to be changed for the betterment of the country,” the yoga guru Ramdev added.

Baba Ramdev, who has been in past criticised for ignoring the Muslims and being close to the RSS, said, “I request our Muslim brothers and sisters to join this movement and as it is the month of Ramadan we will help break their fast on a daily basis.”

He also requested the Parliamentarians to observe fast for three days.

“The movement has received huge positive response from all over the country. Around 80 percent of village panchayats are supporting this ‘andonlan’,” Baba Ramdev said.

Posted on Aug 9 2012. Filed under Indian Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry