In the face of widespread criticism of the police crackdown at the Ramlila grounds, the Congress late on Sunday evening closed ranks and decided to launch a campaign across the country against the “communal forces” which, it said, were trying to destabilise the United Progressive Alliance government. The party hopes it will be able to neutralise the efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party- RSS combine and Baba Ramdev who have threatened to start a movement across the country to pin the ruling United Progressive Alliance down on the issue of corruption.
This decision was taken at a scheduled meeting of Congress' office bearers at party president Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence, which was enlarged into a strategy session to counter the BJP's attempts to capitalise on the Ramdev affair. Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, A.K. Antony and Kapil Sibal also attended the meeting. Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to the Congress chief as also party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Mukul Wasnik, Birender Singh and Jagdish Tytler were present.
Party sources said that though there was some criticism of the fact that four Union Ministers had gone to the airport earlier in the week to meet Baba Ramdev, as that showed the government in a poor light, there was support for the police action and clearing of the Ramlila grounds.
The party appeared to have finally decided to adopt the line that Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh has been espousing for several days. On Sunday, too, he launched a public attack against Baba Ramdev, even as he justified the police action. Accusing him of “inciting people” even after striking a deal with the government to end his protest, Mr. Singh described the yoga guru as a “fraud,” and demanded an enquiry into the “thousands of crores of rupees” of property owned by him. He said Baba Ramdev's fast was an “out-and-out RSS affair.” “From day one,” he thundered, “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.”
Later, after the late evening meeting, Congress media chairman Janardan Dwivedi told journalists that the political forces, which had faced electoral defeats (a reference to the BJP losing both the general elections in 2009 and fairing poorly in the recent Assembly elections), were using “fear” and “threats” to regain form. “These parties weaken constitutional norms to strengthen themselves,” he said, adding, “The Congress has accepted the challenge to combat these forces.”
Mr. Dwivedi added that all State units would be asked to take this message to the far corners of the country as well as the achievements of the government in the social sector. “We have decided to expose the real intentions of those behind this movement through a reach-out programme,” he said.
