Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, on Sunday, slammed the Congress-led UPA Government for ‘deliberately’ sleeping over massive corruption in the country and said he would launch a campaign against the Government ahead of the lok Sabha polls.
He announced a countrywide agitation against the Government, starting September 13. Senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy also shared the stage with Ramdev at his Vyavastha Parivartan rally in Jantar Mantar.
“Beginning from Madhya Pradesh on September 13, we will organise a mass rally and travel to all States of the country as well as to the US and Britain,” he said.
“The fight is against the Government and we want to make the people aware of the large-scale corruption and black money that the Congress Government is involved with,” he further said, adding that he would travel across the country and address issues affecting people, inflation for instance.
lashing out at the Congress, Ramdev said that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had accepted the Big Powers agreement declaring Azad Hind Fauj chief Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose as a war criminal. He alleged that the Government had also denied martyrdom to freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad.
Vowing to stay away from his Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar for the next nine months till the next lok Sabha polls, Ramdev said, “The Government’s involvement in corruption goes to the tune of `100 lakh crore. Reports suggest that there is corruption amounting to a minimum of
`5 lakh crore every year. On black money issue, the Government has a record of 50,000 illegal transactions being carried out, but it has taken no action till date.” He took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi as well, questioning his silence on most issues.
Calling himself a lawyer for all citizens of India, eminent lawyer Ram Jethmalani raised the issue of black money stashed in foreign banks and said if the money was brought back to India, it would solve the economic crisis in the country. He further said, “Black money of our Indian leaders saved in foreign banks amount to a whopping `90 lakh crore. The amount is so much that every family in our country can get `3 lakh.”
Addressing the rally, he also raised the issue of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi’s ill-gotten gains. Subramanian Swamy, too, slammed the top leaders of the Congress and rendered them unfit for ruling the nation.