Asking Baba Ramdev to walk the talk, the State Congress president Kishore Upadhaya said the yoga icon had pledged to spearhead a movement against the NDA Government in case the latter failed to bring back unaccounted money stashed in foreign banks. "Now the time has come for the Baba to act on the pledge as the Narendra Modi Government has failed to bring back black money in the promised 100 days. Over 300 days have passed since the Government was saddled. Nothing has happened. And curiously, the Baba is maintaining a stony silence on the emotive issue," the Congress leader said while addressing a gathering at Subash Ghat off Har-ki-Pauri here.
The meeting was organised as part of the party's movement to expose the 'cheap flippancy' indulged in by the BJP leaders and their cronies during 2014 electioneering.Taking a swipe at the yoga protagonist, Upadhaya said Swami Ramdev had promised every citizen Rs 15 lakh to be debited to his account after the black money is brought back from the Swiss banks.
"Hoping a turnaround in their poverty-stricken lives, the poor have opened bank accounts. Some even have taken loans from the society and their relatives to open such accounts. However, the promised sum is still elusive," he said.Congress co-incharge for Uttarakhand Sanjay Kapoor said, busy to promote his FMCG company the Baba has forgotten his pompous promise. "The brand ambassador of Yoga for the Haryana Government, he is touring the country and abroad. But my party would not allow the BJP to take the people for a ride," he added.
Upadhaya served a memorandum to District Magistrate, addressed to the Prime Minister. On behalf of the DM, SDM City Bir Singh Budhiyal received it. Many important party leaders like Satpal Brahmachari, former chairman of Nagar Palika, Anshul Shrikunj, State party spokesperson, Ambrish Kumar, former MlA, UKPCC member Jitendra Saraswati, Mushraf Hussani, Ravi Arora, Swami Hari Chatinyaji Maharaj, Murli Manohar, Ishwari Devi and Kiran Singh were present.
Meanwhile, observers say the Congress strategy to bridge factional schism by using Baba Ramdev as the gel, albeit in the negative sense, seems to have come a cropper. Half of the chairs remaining unoccupied at the meeting proved that the issue has failed to strike a chord with the common people of the holy city.