Unfazed by attack from various quarters,Congress justified the midnight crackdown on Baba Ramdev's fast against corruption and accused him of "inciting people" despite striking a deal with the government for ending his protest. Terming the yoga guru as a "fraud",AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh also demanded an inquiry into the "thousands of crores of rupees" of property owned by Ramdev. Singh,a bitter critic of Ramdev,demanded an inquiry into the Income Tax exemption granted to the yoga guru,who is also into the business of manufacturing Ayurvedic medicine. "Congress has nothing to do with this (action). It has been done by the local administration," Singh said in the first reaction from the Congress on the police action. The police action against Ramdev and his supporters drew sharp criticism from various quarters. Civil society activists termed the action as "inhuman" with eminent lawyer and former Law Minister Shanti Bhushan demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation. He also claimed that Ramdev's fast was an "out-and-out RSS affair." "From day one,it was inspired and engineered by the RSS which wanted to divert the attention of the people from its terror activities that have come to light," he said. "Don't bring any politics in this. The kind of treatment needed to be meted out to a fraud has been meted out to him," Singh said. The government had earlier "compromised its position" as it wanted to dissuade the yoga guru from undertaking the "unnecessary fast" and had therefore sent its senior ministers including Pranab Mukherjee to him. "From 1994 to 2011,whatever this fraud has done,there should be a thorough probe," Singh said. Government's handling of the situation was "most sensitive and in the interest of the people of the country",he said. Going all out against Ramdev,the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said,"He is a fraud. He strikes a deal with the Government at the Claridges Hotel,but incites people at the Ramlila Maidan". He maintained that whatever action has been taken by the local administration was in the "interest of the people". "Delhi is country's capital. You cannot allow Ramdev to run riot in Delhi. He took the Ramlila maidan to carry out a yogic shivir. There was no yoga. He (utilised it) to agitate to incite people," he said. He said certain laws and regulations and directions of Supreme Court with regard to agitations needed to be followed. Coming down heavily on the Baba,Singh alleged that Ramdev had played fraud on everyone from his guru Karam Vir to his disciples and followers as also on the people. "One Rajesh Dikshit who has been known to be close to him is missing," he alleged. "The Baba was attempting to play fraud on the government" through the fast despite the fact that it had held talks with him on the issue of corruption,he said,adding that the yoga guru tried to mislead the media too. Suggesting that the Baba was hand-in-glove with the RSS and the BJP,he wondered why the yoga guru fails to talk about corruption in BJP-ruled states. Singh also drew attention to the issues of adulterated substances allegedly used in ayurvedic preparations brought out by the Baba,a issue which he said was raised by CPI-M leader Brinda Karat earlier. Besides,he wondered how could the yoga guru could enter into the business of food park. Meanwhile,senior Uttarakhand Congress leader Harak Singh Rawat alleged in Dehradun that at least 16 cases of stamp duty evasion worth Rs 58 lakh are pending against the yoga guru in the court of Sub Divisional Magistrate of Roorkee in Haridwar district. " When a person himself is involved in corruption and wrong practices,how can he preach morality? Rawat said. He also charged Ramdev grabbed land of Gram Samaj of Aurangabad and other villages of Haridwar district to establish his Patanjali Yogpeeth and Yoggram. A memorandum in this regard has been submitted to President Pratibha Patil by representatives of several sadhus and seers,he added. Rawat said Ramdev's guru and head of Shankardev Trust,Swami Shankar Dev and Deputy Secretary of Trust Sadhvi Kamla,went missing from the ashram a few years ago and their whereabouts are still not known. " This matter should be investigated so that it could be known as to where the two individuals disappeared," he said. Rawat claimed Ramdev's associate and General Secretary of Baba's Divya Yog Trust Acharya Balkrishna's passport was issued from Bareilly passport office on April 24,1998,which has shown his birthplace as Haridwar and nationality as Indian but an intelligence report said he was born in Nepal and he is a citizen of Nepal". "This is a clear case of forgery and a legal officer of Haridwar has already recommended that a case should be registered against him," he said. When asked to comment on Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank's statement that his government is ready to provide security to Ramdev if he wants to continue his fast in Uttarakhand,he said everybody knows that Ramdev's agitation is backed by BJP and RSS. "We will launch a mass awareness programme to tell the people of the state that BJP supports and patronises corrupt people like Ramdev," he added.
