Ramdev in Delhi: Attacks govt, meets injured Raj Bala

New Delhi, June 26 (PTI) Returning to Delhi three
weeks after he was bundled out from here, yoga guru Ramdev
on Sunday attacked the government claiming that it has no will
to fight corruption or create a Lokpal to check the menace.
Ramdev said he would continue his fight against
corruption alongside "anybody from any party, any religion"
willing to fight the menace but he did not make it clear
whether he would join Anna Hazare on August 16 when the latter
relaunches his campaign for a strong Lokpal.
Holding that he was "not a mask" for BJP or RSS, he
asked why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote a letter to him
and four ministers, including Finance Minister Pranab
Mukherjee, drove to airport to meet him "if I was communal
or a naxal or a terrorist".
"Government does not want to create a Lokpal," he said
addressing a press conference here after meeting Raj Bala, who
was grievously injured in the June five pre-dawn police
crackdown at Ramlila Maidan on his supporters, at a hospital
and dared the government to "search" his institutions for
blackmoney and declare it as national asset.
"Sarkar pehle bhrashtachari thi, abh woh atyachari bhi
ho gayi. (The government was indulging in corruption earlier.
Now it is indulging in atrocities)," he said, adding, "This
government has no will to fight corruption."
The yoga guru alleged that the government was muzzling
voices of those who talk about black money or tell the truth.
Terming the crackdown in Ramlila Maidan as "murder of
democracy", he alleged it was aimed at eliminating him and
that there were "attempts to rape women" by drunk men during
the police action.
However, Ramdev did not throw any light on his next
move as part of his anti-corruption campaign. He said he would
launch a free housing scheme in Haridwar on July one followed
by another programme on August four for empowering villages.
Ramdev reached the capital from Haridwar by road on
Sunday afternoon and straight away headed to G B Pant Hospital
in central Delhi to visit Raj Bala.
Police had erected barricades along the border to
screen those entering the capital and ensure that no untoward
incident occurred during Ramdev's visit to the capital.
Earlier, police had said he was not allowed to enter the
capital for 15 days but later retracted from it.
On government criticism, Ramdev said, "If raising the
issue of black money was wrong, if I was communal, if I was a
Naxal, if I was a terrorist, why did four ministers rush to
the airport? Why did the Prime Minister write to me?
"My fault was that I was talking about empowering
villages by eradicating corruption," he said, adding, "The
government can use all its force to detect if I have any
blackmoney.
"If you find anything from Re one or Rs one lakh
crore, seize it and declare it as national asset," he said.
He said, "As the government could not get back the
black money from abroad so they can now swoop on me and find
out rather than making false statements against me."
Asked about Hazare, he said the issue was not Hazare
or Ramdev but corruption. He said he would support anybody in
the fight against corruption and accused the government of
having no will to enact a strong Lokpal.
"I am not a mask for anyone but the mask of 120 crore
people. I am the son of Bharat Mata," he said, adding, "We
will stand with anyone, any party, any religion, any cat...
but the cat has to catch the rat."
On the Lokpal issue, he questioned the logic of
excluding the Prime Minister and MPs while bringing trusts and
NGOs under the ambit of an anti-corruption ombudsman.
On his attempt to escape from Ramlila Maidan disguised
as a woman, Ramdev said he did not flee and claimed that he
had offered arrest but the police did not carry it out. "I
wanted them to arrest me. I waited but nobody came.
"There was threat to my life. They (police) wanted to
kill me during the crackdown," he said, maintaining, "Woh
logon ko hatana aur muche mitana chahta the. (Police wanted to
evacuate people and eliminate me)." He alleged that attempts
were made to set the dais on fire.
"I did not want to die the death of a wolf, I did not
want to die the death of an animal, I did not want to die at
the hands of police which has become the puppet of the
government. So I decided to escape. I was arrested outside and
if I was caught inside, I would not have been seen again,"
Ramdev said.
He also sought to pooh-pooh police theory of
intelligence inputs about terrorist threat to him, saying that
he had travelled one lakh kilometre in the past one year and
met ten crore people. "There was no threat to me then, how
come it is there now?"
On questions about his hunger strike, Ramdev said he
ended the fast on the advice of spiritual leaders Morari Bapu
and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who told him that the condition of a
large number of women and children who were fasting with him
had worsened.
He also asked political parties to make public their
account books like he did of the Trust he is heading, besides
demanding that call records of conversation Kapil Sibal had
with him be released.
A large number of police personnel were present at the
hospital and the press conference hall.
Ramdev said he had come to Delhi on the 36th
anniversary of the imposition of Emergency and that the
situation "was very much similar to Emergency".
"Police did not come to arrest me, they wanted to kill
me," he said, adding, he would not make public any evidence in
this regard as the case is pending with the Supreme Court.
He said that police attacked his supporters when they
tried to extinguish the fire which started on the stage.
"The attempt to set the stage on fire was again an
attempt to kill me. They attacked my supporters who were
trying to extinguish the fire," he said.
Delhi Police has in an FIR on the Ramlila Maidan
incident, cited "provocative" speeches made by religious and
political leaders, including Ramdev and Sadhvi Ritambara, as
the main reason for canceling permission for the yoga guru's
protest at Ramlila Maidan here.