The Congress has just taken its gloves off in its fight with Baba Ramdev — with official spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi attacking the movement for being a proxy for opposition party BJP.
“Some parties are remote controlling it, whether it is RSS or BJP,” Singhvi said, questioning the massive infrastructure put in place by the Baba for the agitation.
Singhvi accused the Baba of being ‘non transparent’ in his agitation, especially with regards to the ‘five star’ facilities put in place for the effort.
“There are lakhs of people on the grounds who are being provided with food, water and shelter.. Jets land at the airport, there is transportation of activists across the country.
Who is arranging for this huge logistical operation is also a question. Where did these five star facilities come from, who provided them?” he said.
Singhvi seemed to be hinting of an active support from the BJP — overtly a reluctant supporter of Baba — to the campaign against illicit money.
RSS spokesperson and member of its national executive Ram Madhav said the issue was between the Congress and the sadhu. “We don’t need to defend ourselves for having supported to the campaign,” he pointed out.
“When people are talking about transparency. What standards of transparency are they adhering to,” Singhvi said, indicating that the talks between the Baba and the government have not been successful today.
He accused the Baba of threatening the stability of the country. “Solving a problem does not mean using undemocratic means,” he said, pointing to mass movement.
Singhvi asked people who are supporting the Baba to rethink their action, claiming that Baba is associated with the BJP and RSS — the Hindu Right opposition. “Do all the people who are there on the Ramlila grounds support this,” he asked.
The comments are harsher than expected and have come from a senior spokesperson who has a reputation for sticking strictly to his brief from the Party. Singhvi was making the comment at the daily briefing held by the Congress at its headquarters.
The Congress did not launch such direct attacks against Anna Hazare, who recently succefully concluded a similar campaign, but used ‘specialists’ like Digvijay Singh to attack the Gandhian. Singhvi’s statements carry more weight than those of ‘specialists’ like Digvijay Singh.
Baba sits at the head of a Rs 1,000 crore Yoga and Ayurved empire and has also raised contributions from across the country to fund this campaign. The Hazare group had given out exact details of how much money was raised from which donors and how each paisa was spent after the agitation concluded.
Baba is also expected to come out with such details soon.
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