On the fourth day of his Ramlila Maidan agitation, yoga guru Baba Ramdev made a direct attack on the Congress.
He said the party was responsible for the present state of the country, as it was in power for the longest period.
The Congress was not enacting the Lokpal Bill, as it feared that “90 per cent of its ministers will land in jail if a strong anti-corruption bill is in place”, charged the yoga guru.
“We are not digging Congress’ grave. They are doing it themselves,” said Ramdev.
“When UPA came to power, the PM promised that black money would be brought back in 100 days. Many such 100 days have gone by but black money is still stashed in tax havens abroad,” said Ramdev.
Controversial former Army chief V.K Singh also joined Ramdev on the dais on Sunday.
Earlier, he had joined Anna Hazare at his Jantar Mantar protests last month. However, instead of corruption, Singh sought to highlight the plight of farmers.
“It is shocking, but true that over two lakh farmers have committed suicide since 1995.”
According to the former Army Chief, who addressed the protesters at the Ramlila Ground, the problems faced by the farmers will have to take centre stage in this movement as the government had turned a blind eye to their woes.
He also congratulated Ramdev for his movement. “I would like to congratulate Babaji and all of you for spearheading a movement that is for the nation’s benefit. Your willpower to assemble people from all sects of society is terrific. Remember (one thing), we are all Indians, having no religion, caste and community.
If we are Indians, then we can take our nation ahead,” he said.
A core member of the erstwhile Team Anna, Kiran Bedi was also seen at the dais, though none of the anti-corruption group’s other members turned up.
Bedi, also sparked a mini-controversy, when she was quoted by a news agency, as saying that the media was running scared of the government.
“Look at the extent of discussions you have when a police officer or a government official commits a small rape or assault, but none of the media people discussed the corruption charges against any one of the 15 ministers,” Bedi told reporters at Ramlila Maidan.
Soon after facing a barrage of criticism, Bedi clarified on Twitter that she did not intend to rape as a “small” issue.
“It was about comparative punishment. Small officer (not small rape) involved in rape is hung while big ones go scott free!,” she argued on the micro-blogging site.