New Delhi, June 5
Under all-round attack for ordering a midnight crackdown on Ramdev’s peaceful congregation at Ramlila Maidan, the government today justified its action, saying it was compelled to resort to this extreme step as Baba Ramdev had failed to keep his word on ending his fast yesterday after the Centre agreed to most of his demands.

While security reasons were a key factor in deciding on such a strong measure, the government was determined that it would not allow Ramdev to use this platform for furthering his political agenda. It did not want the yoga guru to gloat that he had forced the Centre to accept his demands as it would reinforce the perception that a weak government had succumbed to blackmail tactics.

Government sources said it was clear from the outset that it would not allow Ramdev to sit on a prolonged fast and would take all possible steps, persuasion or force, to put an end to it. “The government could not allow self-appointed representatives of civil society to dictate terms,” a senior Cabinet minister said, adding that had the two rounds of dialogue with Ramdev ended in failure, the government would not have hesitated to whisk him away from the venue of the talks itself.

Giving details of what had transpired during their talks, Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, who had negotiated with Ramdev along with Kapil Sibal, said the government went into these meetings with honest intentions but he would keep raising fresh demands.

He said finance ministry officials had been in discussion with him nearly three weeks and most of the issues were clinched but Ramdev raised new demands during their discussions with him at the airport on June 1. Subsequently, a fresh document was prepared which was discussed during the five-hour-long meeting at the Claridges Hotel.

Sahay and Sibal said after the two sides reached a broad agreement, they asked Ramdev to make an immediate announcement about his decision to undertake a token three-day ‘tap’ or penance. Ramdev, however, demurred, saying he would do so the next day as his followers would not turn up for the congregation if they heard about the agreement. It was then decided that he would give a written assurance that he would be making this announcement by 4 pm the next day.

When he failed make the promised announcement by this deadline, the government decided to hold a press conference and release his written assurance to the press. However, minutes before the press conference commenced, Sibal received a call from Ramdev when he cleared his doubts about the Centre’s commitment to bring a law to declare unaccounted money as a national asset. At that point, he was told that since the government had met his demands, he should keep his promise and make an immediate public announcement on ending his fast. Instead, Ramdev declared he would announce his final decision the next morning after he received a written assurance from the government.

Stating that Ramdev kept changing the goalposts by raising fresh demands, Sibal and Sahay said: “It was clear that he could not be trusted. He betrayed us”, adding that the Centre was left with no option but to resort to police action.