Countdown in the Baba bungle

What followed during the next fortnight was an unprecedented appeasement drive,with lengthy meetings in the Cabinet Secretariat and the Prime Ministers Office and subsequent conclaves with Ramdev himself first at Air Indias VIP lounge at the Delhi Airport on June 1,then a meeting with Ministers and Secretaries in North Block and finally,the marathon crisis management session in a suite at the Claridges Hotel on June 3.

What the governments interlocutors Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay say they firmly told Ramdev was that his demand for an ordinance on black money could not be conceded. When they seemed to reach a consensus on a number of demands,Ramdev,according to sources,gave his first assurance that he would end the fast within three days.

In between,the Cabinet Secretariat instructed the concerned ministries to prepare dossiers on the progress already made or underway on Ramdevs demands. The dossiers,available with The Indian Express,show that the Finance Ministry produced a detailed note on action taken by the government on the issue of black money; the HRD Ministry presented an eight-point report on steps taken to popularise the use of Hindi; and the Department of Personnel and Training drafted a detailed statement on the ratification of the UNCAC United Nations Convention Against Corruption listing provisions in Indian laws.

All this was compiled in one folder and handed over to Ramdev at the Claridges meeting. In return,Ramdev was asked to announce at the hotel itself that he would only hold a day-long tapa and then call off his programme. However,Ramdev pleaded that this would render his programme meaningless as many who were coming from outside Delhi would cancel their travel. The government conceded to his request to put off the announcement till the next day,following which he asserted on the evening of June 3 that 99 per cent of his demands had been met.

The six-hour long meeting,during which Sibal was in constant contact with Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram,ended only after Ramdev agreed to give a written assurance. On this too,however,he put the onus on his trusted aide,Acharya Balkrishan,saying that he never signed any papers. The single-page note in Hindi was signed by Balkrishan,the PM was informed,and Sibal hugged Ramdev,saying they could now celebrate.

But the next day,there were confusing signals from the Ramdev camp at Ramlila Maidan. Sibal and Sahay had several telephonic conversations with Ramdev and Balkrishan,but the yoga guru revived his conditions of time-bound action,the ordinance and the missing items on his initial list of demands.

It was at this juncture that Sibal and Sahay became convinced that Ramdev was playing dirty. As the 4 pm deadline approached,Sibal again called up Ramdev,asking him to make a formal announcement. When Ramdev again started to dilly-dally,Sibal curtly told him that he would not make any more calls. He extended the deadline by another hour,after which he went to Mukherjees office. Chidambaram was also there,and they began chalking out the strategy for police action.

Around 5:40 pm,Chidambaram,who postponed his 4 pm flight to Chennai,held a meeting with Home Secretary G K Pillai and Director,Intelligence Bureau,Nehchal Sandhu.

Senior Delhi Police officials were then brought into the picture,and orders issued for the cancellation of Ramdevs shivir. At around 6 pm,the tables turned and it was Ramdev who began calling up Sibal and Sahay. Sibal took the call just before he was to address the press conference at the PIB,told Ramdev that he was announcing the governments commitment to have a law on declaring black money as national assets and that he should fulfil his end of the bargain by publicly withdrawing his fast. If he failed to do so,the signed note would be made public,he warned.

The two ministers watched the live telecast in a PIB officers room and when Ramdev failed to call off his protest,Sibal made the note public.

After the breakdown,the government,as a last measure,dispatched a brief clarification to the Baba informing him that the government is committed to a legal structure through which wealth generated illegally is declared as a national asset and that such assets are subject to confiscation. It contained one final warning: You have already publicly stated that upon receiving this letter,you will end your tapa. We hope you will honour this public communication forthwith.

The letter was handed to Ramdev at around 11 pm. With still no announcement from Ramdev,the government gave the go-ahead for police action at 12.35 am.