Baba Ramdev’s clean chit to Narendra Modi on graft upsets Annaites

NEW DELHI: Barely 48 hours after self-styled yoga guru, Baba Ramdev, lent his support to Anna Hazare and his team at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar , the saffron-clad guru was sharing the dais with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in Ahmedabad. Ramdev gave the Gujarat chief minister a clean chit on corruption issues, saying that he found no basis for allegations of corruption in Gujarat.

“Everybody is asking me about corruption in Gujarat, but I couldn’t find anything of this sort. Modi is not doing anything wrong… Ministers of Congressled UPA government have been in jail. Had the Gujarat chief minister also done anything wrong, he would have been put behind bars,” Baba Ramdev said at the Tarun Kranti Awards function in Ahmedabad. Back in New Delhi, Team Anna is uneasy about Ramdev’s comment.

A member of the anti-graft team, Sanjay Singh, said Ramdev must explain why he shared the dais with Modi. “We were never in agreement with Modi. We are not in agreement with Modi now. Narendra Modi is a murderer of humanity. Ramdev will have to clarify on this issue,” Singh said.

Claiming that Hazare has already made his views clear on Modi, Singh said Modi had not passed a strong Lokayukta bill in the state. Praise for Modi is something that Team Anna is wary of. Hazare had last year courted controversy after praising Modi, remarks which were later clarified as commending his initiatives for rural development.

A section in Team Anna is against association with Ramdev . Since then, Hazare and his team had always been cautious not to comment on Modi. Ramdev’s comments come at a time when a section of Team Anna has expressed its discomfort over Ramdev’s association with their anti-graft agitation.

Even though Hazare and Ramdev share good relations , the latter’s attempts at a close association with the agitation have never been welcomed by Team Anna members. This was evident in August last year as Ramdev carried out his fast at Ramlila Maidan and which ended with police action.

However, the equation appeared to have undergone some change, when on Friday Ramdev made an appearance at Jantar Mantar, where Team Anna members were fasting.