Ignored by the government,Yoga guru Baba Ramdev today decided to take his protest on black money and corruption to Parliament and vowed to oust Congress in the next Lok Sabha polls.
Kiran Bedi has tweeted against the move,saying cops will have no choice but to prevent Ramdev and his followers from going to Parliament as the House is in session.
Whether that will lead to a crackdown is unclear,but last year’s agitation precludes nothing.
“The government has become completely deaf. We have to make them hear us. Now our protest will be outside Parliament. We are not talking about gherao,” Ramdev said while addressing his supporters here.
“Lok Sabha polls will be in 2014 and 99 per cent could be in 2013. This protest is to ensure that no dishonest person enters Parliament. Such people should be boycotted. We do not have a political agenda,” he said.
The yoga guru,who started his fast on Thursday,said the government had become “insensitive”.
“The government is deaf,blind and insensitive. It is in coma,it will die,we don’t want anybody to die. But they are inviting death. Congress hatao,desh bachao,” Ramdev said.
“We will sit on dharna outside Parliament,” he added.
In a significant move,BJP President Nitin Gadkari came to the Ramlila Maidan and gave a speech castigating Congress over blackmoney,indicating that the saffron party and Ramdev have joined forces – something that Congress has been alleging for long,but which the yoga guru has been denying vehemently.
It may also cast a cloud over Ramdev’s assertions that his protest has no political ambitions.
However,protestations to the contrary are still being churned out,with Gadkari himself doing so today in his speech.
Gadkari blamed the wrong economic policies for the prevalence and growth of corruption under the Congress regime.
Joining Ramdev on the dais were other senior NDA leaders like Sharad Yadav.
Gadkari and Yadav,the convenor of BJP-led NDA,arrived at the Ramlila Maidan,the venue of Ramdev’s fast agitation,at around 11.30 AM.
The NDA leaders appeared on the stage and sat with Ramdev and his supporters. TDP leader Nama Nageshwara Rao,BJP MP Vijay Goel and Akali Dal representatives also shared the stage with Ramdev.