NEWDELHI: The government had hoped the Baba would yield to honeyed words and threats. It was a battle between native intelligence of the Beas heartland and the sophistry of seasoned politicians like Pranab Mukherjee, Kapil Sibal and Subhodh Kant Sahay.
For today, Ramdev may have won this round. The Government was forced to accept his demand of a legislation, if not an ordinance, to get him to roll-back the mass gathering at the Ramlila maidan.
Till late at the night, the government’s mighty interlocutors, Union ministers Kapil Sibal and Baba’s friend in the Cabinet Subodh Kant Sahay, were burning midnight oil drafting a fresh note with clarifications that the Baba had asked for—that black money stashed away in off-shore tax haven will be declared “national asset’’ and confiscated and a stringent law to punish anyone dealing in black-money will be framed. The government’s subtle threat—“the government can also rein in’’—to break the Baba’s resolve fell flat. Sitting in front of an adulating mass of supporters, Ramdev remained steadfast on his agenda that “law and not a committee’’ was the need of the hour.
Throughout the day, the Famous Five—Pranab Mukherjee, P Chidambaram, Veerappa Moily, Kapil Sibal, Pawan Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay—waited with bated breath, mostly in the Mukherjee’s office, waiting for a phone call from Ramdev. When until 5.30 p.m. the phone didn’t ring, the government decided that it was time for some arm-twisting. But no sooner had Sahay and Sibal reached the press conference venue to tell the media that the game was over, Sibal’s phone rang. After a chat with Baba, he swiftly walked out with a gushing Sahay in tow with a broad smile on his face. Ramdev had instructed the waiting ministers to “go watch TV, please listen to what I have to say’.’ As Sibal and Sahay sat in front of the TV, it dawned on them that there was nothing to celebrate or tell Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who too was waiting for a breakthrough. Ramdev was not calling off the agitation. Mukherjee had spent the last three days rushing to and fro between South Block and his North Block office, as the finance ministry came to halt.
Ramdev’s astute intelligence had detected a glitch in the government’s white paper accepting his demands. The phone rang again, and this time the yoga guru told Sibal that he will accept “nothing short of an ordinance” as he has little trust in the government’s clever ways. It was left to a red-faced Sibal to explain that “an ordinance cannot be promised by an individual minister as it is only the entire Cabinet which can take such a decision’’—and that a law to be framed by a committee is all that he can promise. The entire government on Ramdev duty had come to a standstill for the past three days, doing little more than confabulated and drew up plans to coax and cajole the Baba into submission as major decisions languished. No meeting of the Group of Ministers (GOM) was scheduled except for one Empoered Group of Ministers (EGOM) to discuss the disel subsidy that was causing the government crores of rupees. But a decision was deferred becaus ethe situation was politically volatiule already. Besides key allies Sharad Pawar and MK Alagiri were unavailable and Pranab Mukherjee was too busy chasing Baba Ram Dev for a solution for attending to crack the whip on the UP{A’s allies. The yoga guru had brought the government to a standstill.