Baba Ramdev & Congress in black money war

Yoga Guru Ramdev’s fight against black money appears to have backfired. Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday questioned the source of funding of Ramdev’s activities while the BJP defended the guru.

“ He must understand that we are as much against black money as he claims to be. He is targeting only one political party. I request him to get proofs from donors and his disciples that the fund he receives from them is not black money,” Singh said.

BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu, however, accused the Congress of levelling baseless allegations against Ramdev. “ The Congress has adopted the policy that offence is the best defence. Whenever somebody raises any issue against them, they start attacking that person,” Naidu said.

Ramdev’s campaign targeted Congress and that is the reason why the BJP is defending him, Congress sources argued. For his part, Ramdev has accepted Singh’s challenge and said that while Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust has wealth worth Rs. 1152 crores, he would come out with more details within a few days for the satisfaction of his critics.

When asked, Ramdev said on Wednesday that he doesn’t deny that he has much more than what has been assessed by independent sources so far. When reminded that some people were of the opinion that his trust has an empire of about Rs. 1000 crore, Ramdev said, “ I think my trust has more than what has been assessed. Since I don’t play in the share market, I never felt like assessing the exact value of

the properties. But some people have made enough hue and cry over these properties. So I have decided to discuss the matter with the finance department of the trust and come out with minute details.” The Congress leader had said in Gorakhpur on Monday that while Ramdev talks about bringing back black money kept in Swiss Bank accounts, he too should prove that he has no black money.

The Congress in 2007 had attacked the Madhya Pradesh government led by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan for organising a yoga camp at Bhopal’s Lal Parade ground.

The camp was organised by Chauhan’s wife Sadhna Singh and had attracted thousands including politicians, bureaucrats and IPS officers The party had appealed to the state government to make public the number of tickets sold at the camp and had also demanded a probe into the quantity of medicines sold in the camp.

The party also attacked the government after it announced allotment of 1,618 acres of land in Sihora tehsil in Jabalpur to Ramdev in violation of the laws.