Saturday, June 11, 2011

BJP concerned over Ramdev's health, wants Centre to intervene


Expressing concern over Baba Ramdev's health, the BJP has said the Centre should intervene as any untoward turn in the yoga teacher's health can become a national issue.

The announcement came late on Friday night, after the BJP core group met at senior leader LK Advani's residence. The meeting was attended by the likes of BJP President Nitin Gadkari, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and General Secretary Ananth Kumar.

Baba Ramdev who enters the eighth day of his fast today, was carried out of his ashram in Haridwar on a stretcher on Friday and admitted to a hospital in Dehradun. He was also given glucose in an ambulance en route to the hospital. Doctors attending to him said his liver had been affected and his blood pressure was worryingly low.

The yoga guru and the government have been at war since last Saturday, when the Baba was evicted from his camp in Delhi where he combined yoga classes with a sit-in protest and the launch of his hunger strike against corruption and black money. 65,000 people were in attendance when the police broke up the camp with teargassing and a lathicharge. The Baba was evicted and flown back to Uttarakhand.

The action at Ramlila Maidan ended days of negotiation between the government and the Baba over his suggestions for how to tackle the problem of crores of untaxed money that have been shipped abroad. The late-night violence united Opposition parties who accused the government of violating citizens' right to peacefully protest. Civil activists who have declared Gandhian Anna Hazare their leader pounded the government too, with public criticism and a one-day fast at Rajghat on Wednesday.