The crowd tells you all. The kind of people you associate with also defines the contour of your movement.
Unlike the crowds that donned the movement of Anna Hazare against the corruption couple of months ago, Baba Ramdev’s movement against corruption has assumed communal tinge with the association of the RSS and the BJP and other hardcore Hindutva groups.
This is the reason that people,like,Medha Patekar, Swami Agnivesh and others have not supported the movement.
What has divided the opinion and people is the presence of the people like Sadhvi Ritambhra,Vinay Katiyar and all who have been rabid Hindutva leaders and whose association with the Babri Masjid movement is well known.
“Communalism should be kept away from this fight against corruption.Anna Hazare has kept his fight against corruption away from politics. We don’t want to see the civil rights group divided. Anna Hazare is very particular about keeping people like Sadhvi Ritambhara away from the dais”,says a statement issued by Swami Agnivesh.
One interesting coincidence is the timing of the movement. It coincided with the national Executive meet of the BJP at Lucknow.
Some political analysts see this as a concerted attempt by the saffron brigade to undermine the Congress government in the run up to the Uttar Pradesh elections next year and the general elections in 2014.
Coming down heavily on Ramdev’s agitation the senior Congress leader, Digvijay Singh has said that “now it is absolutely clear as to what are the credentials of Baba Ramdev. He is now openly supported by RSS BJP and VHP”.
This is the charge Baba can’t easily dismiss considering the large presence of the Saffron crowds at the Ramlila Ground in Delhi.