Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Sunday hit out at the Congress-led UPA government saying it has no political will to rein in corruption and bring back black money stashed in tax havens.
Ramdev was speaking at Ramlila Maidan after his “deadline” given to the government to respond to his key demands expired on 5pm today.
The yoga guru shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh listing his demands, which include bringing back black money, enacting a strong Lokpal Bill and a transparent process for appointing Election Commission (EC), Director of CBI, CAG and CVC.
With government remained unmoved, Ramdev said it is shielding those who have black money abroad.
“The ruling party may be shying away from action as the black money stashed abroad may be that of its leaders and people close to it”, he thundered.
"What is the danger that Congress perceives in bringing back black money or declaring it national asset, if they do not own it?" he asked.
The yoga guru said he will go among the people to spread the message.
“My movement has no political motive. It has a social and democratic agenda”, he said. “Peace and non-violence are the edifices on which the movement stands”, he said.
The yoga guru said the government is not interested to bring a strong Lokpal Bill. “The UPA government fears that 90 percent of its ministers will land in jail if a strong Lokpal Bill is enacted.”
“The government is looting the rights of the people and put the country for auction”, he told his cheering supporters.
He said Congress came up with slogan 'Garibi Hatao' (remove poverty) but they ended up increasing poverty.
The yoga guru did not announce the next course of action on the fourth day of his fast and deferred it till Monday.
The yoga guru hinted at a 'jail bharo' agitation while asking his supporters whether they were ready to go to prisons for the "big revolution starting tomorrow".
"The beginning of the end of this government will start from tomorrow”, he said.
Earlier in the day Ramdev targeted the Prime Minister saying he lacks “political honesty.”
"You are being hailed as an honest person. We don't doubt your personal honesty. But you will have to show political honesty and political duty", he said.
"When UPA came to power, the Prime Minister promised that black money will be brought back in 100 days. Many such 100 days have gone by but black money is still stashed in tax havens abroad," he said.
The fourth day of Ramdev's protest saw erstwhile Team Anna member Kiran Bedi and former Army chief VK Singh making a presence at his fast venue.
Bedi while addressing the protesters to "raise a united front against corruption" and "form a coalition against corrupt".
Singh made a veiled attack on the government by dubbing the government as a “property dealer" alleging that it takes over farmers' land in the name of development.
Earlier this month, Singh had appeared at Jantar Mantar here on the last day of Hazare's fast.
A few political leaders also made their first appearance at yoga guru's protest.
BJD's Rajya MP Rabi Mahapatra, TDP MPs CM Ramesh and Konakalla Narayana, BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar, independent MP Inder Singh Namdhari were among others present on the occasion.
First Published: Sunday, August 12, 2012, 08:30