Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Saturday declared that his support to Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi is “conditional” and “issue based”.
Ahead of the 2014 general elections, he demanded to know what economic policies particularly with regard to the issue of black money stashed in banks abroad, will be followed by the BJP and how Mr. Modi will work to declare the money stashed abroad as a national asset.
“The Congress was the first party that I approached, but they betrayed me, now I am being cautious have demanded to know what the BJP and Mr. Modi’s policies will be. I have invited the BJP leadership and Mr. Modi to attend a rally in Talkatora on Sunday and explain what effective policies have they planned to address issues of black money, corruption, inflation, unemployment and the flawed taxation policy of the country,” he told mediapersons.
The yoga guru said his support for the BJP will be based on the three principles of ‘neeti, netratav and neeyat’ (policy, leadership and intent) and since the aspirations of millions of people ride on Mr. Modi’s election as Prime Minister, it is imperative for the BJP to announce how it plans to help farmers, domestic businesses and resuscitate the economy.
He demanded scrapping all existing taxes, the implementation of a single bank transaction tax to tackle corruption, withdrawal of high denomination currency notes and giving impetus to domestic investment. “The business community today is wary of investing in India, there is about Rs. 9 lakh crore waiting to be invested. Because of a slew of taxes every commodity from cooking gas to fuel is nearly double the price. The country needs economic independence,” he said.
Training his guns on the Congress, Baba Ramdev said, the flawed policies followed by the Party and its scant regard to economic alternatives suggested by him were responsible for the prevalence of corruption in the country.
“ Maine unhe mauka diya, unhone mujhe dhokha diya (I gave them a chance, they let me down). The only person who was willing to address the issue of black money and even convinced the Prime Minister to take action was Pranab Mukherjee, but unfortunately the dirty tricks department of the Congress saw him as an impediment and had him shifted out to the Rashtrapati Bhavan,” Baba Ramdev said.
Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his comments against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Baba Ramdev said the Congress in itself is the “biggest disaster” and the Prime Minister has merely handed over his “own title [of being a disaster] to Mr. Modi”.
“In his press conference the Prime Minister said that the Kashmir problem was almost solved; but had it been solved as per the PM’s design, it would have been a disaster for the whole country. My sources told me that the PM was eyeing a Nobel Prize; his policy on Kashmir, the proposal to demilitarise borders and allow free trade were determined by that vision. His economic policies have been weak and now he was threatening the country’s integration with weak and dangerous policies,” he sad.
