An error of judgment ensured impasse stayed

Union HRD MInister Kapil Sibal with Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay shows a letter written by Acharya Balkrishan during a press conference on talks with Baba Ramdev in New Delhi on Saturday. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

The revelation of a note from the Baba Ramdev's aide, Acharya Balkrishan, by Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal — a key negotiator — was clearly an error of judgment. The note said that the yoga guru would announce at noon on Saturday that he would sit in meditation only from June 4 to 6 as the government had taken his demands seriously

Earlier, a beleaguered government, under pressure from the party, and an object of ridicule in public for its “weakness,” had decided that if the yoga guru did not make a public announcement on Saturday, then the note would be its weapon to discredit him. But Baba Ramdev's phone call to Mr Sibal, even as the press conference was to commence, obviated the necessity for such a revelation.

Sibal’s warning

In a telephonic conversation even his press conference was to commence, Mr. Sibal told Baba Ramdev, sources said, that he might be forced to reveal the contents of the letter if the latter did not himself publicly announce that his hunger strike would end on June 6. In response, the latter said the government would first have to assure him it would pass an ordinance to tackle black money, as thus far it had only promised him a committee to look at the issue.

To this, Mr Sibal, ruling out an ordinance, told the yoga guru that it was not just a committee — the committee would be mandated to frame a law on black money. Baba Ramdev acquiesced, only saying that he would like a written clarification. Mr Sibal agreed to this.

The moment the conversation ended, at 6.50 pm, the yoga guru announced at Ramlila Grounds that his demand for a law on black money had been accepted, and that once he received a written assurance to that effect, he would end his hunger strike.

Having heard the announcement on television, Mr. Sibal and Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay re-entered the conference hall, to brief journalists about Baba Ramdev's promise to end his fast once he received a written clarification on a law on black money. But instead of stopping there, Mr Sibal pulled out Baba Ramdev's letter — it is this that has angered the yoga guru. For good measure, Mr. Sibal said that while the government knew how to “reach out,” it also knew how to “rein in.” But its efforts to rein in the yoga guru clearly backfired on Saturday.

What Baba Ramdev wants

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who has threatened to field candidates in every Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, has stopped the Union government in its tracks with a set of demands, ranging from the serious to the bizarre.

The demands of the jetsetting Baba — whose acolytes recently bought him a little Scottish island to open an ashram — include:

— Tough Lokpal Bill, with a provision for death sentence for the corrupt, especially corrupt officials

— Immediate return of all black money stashed away in tax havens abroad to the country

— Declaring all wealth in foreign countries being held illegally by Indians as national property and charging those with such accounts under the sedition laws

— Abolishing Rs.1,000 and Rs.500 currency notes

— Disabling the operations of any bank which belongs to a country that is a tax haven

— Replacing the British-inherited system of governance, administration, taxation, education, law and order with a swadeshi alternative

— Reforming the electoral system to ensure that the Prime Minister is directly elected by people

— Ensuring that all citizens declare annually their incomes

— Bringing income-tax details under the Right to Information Act

— Increasing substantially the Minimum Support Price of grains

— Making wages of different categories of labourers uniform across the country

— Revoking the Land Acquisition Act, as farmers should not be deprived of their land for industry

— Promoting Hindi at the expense of English.