Govt goes to the Baba

Mukherjee,along with HRD minister Kapil Sibal,Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal and Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay — Sahay is said to have a “personal rapport” with Ramdev — not only reached the airport a few minutes ahead of the Baba’s arrival but gave a patient hearing to Ramdev and his followers in a meeting that lasted two and a half hours. Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar and his designated successor,Ajit Kumar Seth,too,were present at the meeting.

Rolling out the red carpet for the yoga guru,UPA managers suggested,was not only a “pro-active” initiative to prevent a situation which could be exploited by the Opposition,especially the RSS and the BJP,but also to try and prop an alternative to Team Anna Hazare.

Yesterday,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had pointed out in a briefing that there were differences between members of the civil society on the issue of including the Prime Minister and the judiciary within the ambit of the Lokpal. “What will happen if the Lokpal is corrupt?” has been Ramdev’s refrain questioning the inclusion of the PM and the Chief Justice of India.

Government representatives said that today’s meeting was meant to “explain and convince” Ramdev of the steps taken to flush out black money and end corruption and,in the process,persuade him to call off his proposed fast. Ramdev and his supporters touched on a range of issues,from black money to the plight of farmers. Interestingly,there was not much discussion on the Lokpal Bill,sources said.

Though the yoga guru stuck to his publicly stated position that he was going to stick to his fast programme,sources said UPA managers were trying to reach an understanding in which the government could agree to look into the demands raised by Ramdev through some mechanism in return for an end to his fast.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,who yesterday appealed to Ramdev to call off his fast,was briefed by the four ministers at his 7,RCR residence later in the evening. A senior ministerial team,probably led by Mukherjee again,will hold a second round of discussions with the yoga guru on June 3.

“The government has to extricate itself from this situation. Our interest is that it should not snowball into something that will be difficult to handle at a later stage,” a senior UPA functionary said this evening. He said there was nothing wrong in the government explaining its policies to the yoga guru who had a significant following.

Although the lengthy meeting at the airport lounge did not translate into any assurances from Ramdev,UPA managers were almost confident that Ramdev had “understood” the viewpoint of the government.

The surprising initiative today,sources said,was at the Prime Minister’s instance,who appeared to have held the view that it was better to pre-empt a situation like the Anna Hazare campaign to develop later. Mukherjee was believed to have been reluctant to go to the airport but gave in after a request from the Prime Minister.

Ramdev,on his part,maintained that he would proceed ahead with his programme as scheduled. “The fast beginning June 4 from the Ramlila grounds in Delhi will continue in all 624 districts in the country. More than one crore people will observe fast on Day One. Crores of people who want a black money-free country will participate in it,” Ramdev said at the airport after his meeting with Cabinet ministers.

“Exceptionally important issues that impact the future of the country were discussed along with other broad range of issues…we listened to him and prima facie responded to him. We will be in touch with him in coming days,” Sibal told reporters at the airport after his talks with Ramdev.

Ramdev,who was greeted by four young men wearing Bharat Swabhiman imprinted t-shirts with one national flag and three women carrying Tilak and garlands along with a battery of electronic media,also said that his primary focus was on black money and corruption.

“Black money is the topmost issue followed by corruption. As for corruption,our demands include bringing a Public Service Delivery Guarantee Act applicable for all services by Central and State governments … We also demand establishment of fast track courts at Centre as well as at State for expeditious trial of corruption cases within one year,” he said.