The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Ramdev calls off fast, fight to go on
Ananya Panda
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 14
A day after throwing the country’s Parliament proceedings and the traffic in the national capital out of gear, Ramdev, much to the respite of the Centre and the Delhi cops, called off his five-day fast he undertook to protest against black money stashed in foreign shores and corruption, today at 12 noon.

Taking a clear anti-Congress stand and targeting the Prime Minister Manhoman Singh, he exhorted his supporters at Ambedkar Stadium to gear up for early Lok Sabha elections.

“The fast has ended but the struggle will go on. Now we are not going to fast anymore but work towards the change during the next polls. We’ll remove this government,” he said, while reiterating that he does not have any political agenda.

Before this, Delhi Police appealed the yoga guru and his supporters to vacate the stadium on security grounds in view of the Independence Day celebrations. “Tomorrow is Independence Day. So, due to security reasons we ask you to leave the Ambedkar Stadium,” said ACP Devesh Srivastava before the yoga guru broke
his fast.

Pointing his guns at PM, Ramdev accused him of lack of political will in bringing back money from abroad. The attacks was laced with his typical Harayanvi phrases and dialect that earned him a lot of applause from his supporters.

“This corrupt government is holding the country to ransom. It has played with the dreams of those who have laid down their lives for it. Tomorrow on August 15, the PM is answerable to the nation on the black money and corruption,” said Ramdev, while taking a clear jibe asking the PM to leave politics.

Riding high on anti-Congress alliances’ support, he said, “We could have stopped the PM from hoisting the National Flag tomorrow but it would not be right. We respect the sacrifice made by seven lakh brave Indians. We are not leaving this place defeated…. It is just that the first leg of the agitation is over and we are going victorious. We have made parties come together on the issue of black money and it was only Congress which now stands on the other side,” he said.

He resolved to oust the Congress from power in the next polls, urging his supporters to go back and spread the message of uprooting the Congress-led government. “The Congress is responsible for poverty, inflation. Hence, boycott the Congress leaders in the next elections,” he added.

Ramdev was accompanied by former law minister during the NDA regime and lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who too raised the anti-Congress pitch saying, “Six hundred crore is not a small amount….Why is the government not disclosing the names of those guilty of having black money kept abroad? Half of the cabinet is corrupt.”

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