A tale of Unconventional Companions!

When Baba Ramdev decided to go on a fast-unto-death against the corrupt government earlier this month, he was seen as another Anna in the making with colour ‘saffron’ being the only differentiating factor between them. Initially media ignored him, pseudo-leftist-intellectuals dubbed him as an RSS stooge and the upper middle class were least bothered.

But things took a dramatic turn on the midnight of the 4^th of April, when the entire state-machinery on Sonia Gandhi’s behest was unleashed to forcefully evict Baba from the Ramlila Grounds. Stage set on fire, supporters beaten up, teargas fired, and the Leader arrested – this was how the drama unfolded on the venue which was later aptly christened as the ‘Ravanlila’ ground.

There were two implications of the brutal crackdown – Baba had become a hero of the masses, and the Govt. was seen as a dictatorship regime. With the soaring popularity and support of the civil society, Baba had the power of dictating his ‘own’ terms and conditions but he happened to majorly blew it up.

the visuals speak for themselves!

Pushed on the back-foot, the Government did what it does best – asked the IT, ED and the other agencies to start probing Baba’s assets, Media houses were told to assassinate his character and the PR agencies (Congress Managers) to link him to the ‘communal’ Sangh Parivar.

Cornered by all round criticism, Baba reacted by threatening to train his volunteers in the use of arms in self-defense. If some congressman (Digvijay Singh/Kapil Sibal types) had fallen prey to arrogance, Baba had been momentarily enslaved by anger and dangerous myopia. He forgot that a true Yogi and a Satyagrahi remains calm and unfazed even when wronged and provoked, and lets the strength of his calm firmness transform the wrongdoer. Although Baba has subsequently withdrawn his threat, he has already damaged his own reputation and his cause.

Neither Hindu Naxalism nor the idea of fasting unto death is the answer to the Congress party’s authoritarianism. Few days back, on being asked whether fasting is a good tactic to make your demands met, Sri Sri Ravishankar (Guruji) remarked, “Fasting is good for personal purification, but it should not be used as a blackmail tactic.” He was of the view that the Govt. has become so insensitive and arrogant that it would be least bothered if something were to happen to the Yoga Guru while fasting unto death. It would have even spared the Govt. of devising new tactics to get rid of Baba, as he would have killed himself on his own while fasting. I second that. News has just come in that Baba has broken his fast on Sri Sri’s and the other Guru’s insistence as his condition was deteriorating day by day. The Govt. as expected did nothing to intervene to put an end to Baba’s fast.

Since the government has been elected (and not appointed) it would take much more than fasts and a self-appointed army of activists to overthrow it, so how do we do it is a big question!

What do you think?

PS. On a lighter vein, Sri Sri said that Baba needs lot of energy to carry forward the movement that he has started and that cannot be done with an empty stomach!