Come the fourth of June and yoga guru Ramdev will sit on a fast-unto-death here along with one lakh of his followers. He will break his fast on condition that the government draft a strong anti-corruption Bill with death sentence for the corrupt as its centrepiece.
Baba Ramdev spearheaded the India Against Corruption movement until he fell out with the other leading lights of the group, namely Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan. And though the Baba showed up briefly at the Hazare fast, he has since made it amply clear that he believes in his own methods of fighting corruption.
Baba Ramdev, who is currently on a Bharat Swabhiman Yatra, made announcement on his fast in the course of the Maharashtra leg of his tour.
The yoga guru said a huge number of his followers across the country would sit on fast with him. He said as a disciplined disciple of yoga, he could easily stay hungry for 40 days — time enough for the government to enact the Bill as per his wishes.
Pointing out that the current drafting committee had not started the actual work, he said unlike some others he would not be cowed down if Parliament rejected the Bill:
“Our MPs have dragged their feet on the Bill for 40 years. So why should I accept their refusal now?” Mr. Hazare has been quoted as saying he will abide by the will of Parliament.
The Baba ended his discourse — televised on a faith channel — dramatically by announcing that India would get a strong anti-corruption law whether or not he lives to see it.
“If the government agrees I will break my fast. If not I will continue fasting to the end. My death will get you the Bill.”
Keywords: Yoga guru, anti-corruption Bill
Althought a noble act, I have my reservations. I just do not agree with Death penalty.
In stead a seperate and independant anti coruption police force of 25 000 should be set up, which is independant of all other agencies. The force should be headed by a group of individuals who has proven their intention for the nation, and should hold the position for life (a bit like the US supreme court, but another selection process). Not even the PM should have the authority over the force. There should a seperate "fast track" court to dal with the legal issues.
When baba Ramdev or Anna Hazare fasts (against corruption), there is instant and excess media attention, and the govt sends somebody for talks. There are countless debates in the media on how to tackle corruption and the crusaders are glorified. Does civil society mean only intellectuals and celebrities? Wonder, why the govt and the media are not so proactive when it comes to the poor, we know that millions are silently fasting due to poverty. In fact, like rubbing salt into the wounds, we are expecting another hike in the price of petrol which will cause the prices of essential commodities to go further up. Why isn't there any campaign against this? I hope the govt answers how it plans to spend the money that it possesses effectively (we boast of nearly 8% quarterly GDP) rather than recovering the black money and then saving the nation.
The corruption bill would be dragged till the government is changed and once this is done the matter would be left.No political party wants this bill to be implemented they all are trying to skip the matter to long.This drama would continue till longer time.
Fight against corruption should be a continous movement. People who claims this to be drama are weak people, who just sit and like to discourage people.
One has to make change happen or people know how to delay things. Before Anna started fast, all said, nothing will be achieved. Now see, Lokpall is getting drafted. DMK's daughter is jail. Gov has started acting.
There are good people and bad people in all parties and societies. Its good that byu our effort we give the good people ways so that good can fall upon us. The sooner the better. The faster the better.
One lok pal bill will not kill the mountaneous corruption problem. Like in office you run a multibillion dollar project with momentum, we need multi-directional, multi-faceted, prolonged onslaught of anti-corruption revolution, dharna, action, fasting, satyagraha, speeches from different directional people including gandhian, sadhu, religious, non-governmental groups to keep the tempo up. From that perspective, it is good to have different groups conduct this to bring the point. There is systemic corruption. If not reinforced, obviously our business-politico-bureaucratic group hijack the issue and nail it.
Corruption continues to kill the very soul of the nation. A lot of people talk about the issue but only a handful want to do something about it. We must support the people who have guts to fight the corrupt people. Baba Ram Dev is not sophisticated in looks and talk, and therefore is not popular among white collared people. But, in my opinion he is very sincere and wise person. We must support Baba Ram Dev and everyone else who are fighting for humanity.
Ok, now this is going too much. This guy is just spoiling the movement against corruption. I just hope that people have enough sensibility to reject him and not come out in his support. Also, meaningless vitriol won't earn him anything. While Anna Hazare had a reasonable approach, the baba-ji's very foundation is shaky, given that he is demanding death penalty.
I think baba ramdev is spoiling the movement against corruption.It should be dealt as single issue at a time.Once lokpal bill is cleared then he must go for others.multiple issues under different leaderships will only cause confusion and lead nowhere and enthusiasm of people will decrease.and one last thing,ramdev must stop leading independent movement,he must accept Hazare's leadership and follow him.
In India corruption is reached its zenith and has become the main factor for poor/slow development of the country. Almoost every body is involved in corruption in some form or the other. The fact is more power one has, the more corrupt the person is.The time has come when corruption should be routed out from this country.But corruption will not go on its own. For this each and every citizen of the country would have to play its role. If some body (be it Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev lead a movement to fight against corruption, we should all support it with all our might and abilities.As it is said that corruption flows from up and seeps downwards. This bug of corruption has become superbug and it has to be killed, earlier the better.We got freedom in 1947 from white skin rulers. Unfortunately, the colour of the skin of ruling government has changed. Like englishmen looted our country during their 200 years rule, the brown skin rulers are looting this country with no fear of any kind. Therefore, we should have strictest punishment, including death penalty, for those involved in corruption. So we should all pledge to sacrifice even our lives, to free this country of superbug of corruption. Long live Anna hazare, Baba Ramdev, Kiran Bedi etc
Yoga Guru's vehement words 'My death will get you the Bill' will obviously badger the pesonnels who are detering the development process of the Lokpal Bill. Of course we people have to provide buttress for such a prestigious movement to eradicate this social malaise from the grassroots.
Great!! Another fast unto the death tamasha is about to hit out tv screens. We often accuse politicians and actors of such stunts to garner support but now everybody seems to be jumping on to the bandwagon. First Hazare now Ramdev. What if the govt drafts an anti-corruption legislation that is in tune with what Hazare wants but not what Ramdev wants. Will Ramdev still go on his hunger strike? A lot of this seems like one-upman-ship on the part of all concerned parties - the hunger strikers, the govt, the members of parliament, etc. Long live the hunger strikers!!!
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