Thaindian News

New Delhi, June 6 (IANS) The Congress Monday accused yoga guru Baba Ramdev, whose fast against corruption and black money was forcibly ended after Saturday midnight, of being a mask for the rightwing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

“He (Ramdev) is only a mask,” party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said at a party press briefing here.

Dwivedi also took a shot at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for staging an agitation at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial, while they represented an ideology that was responsible for his assassination.

“There are some more people sitting on a fast at Rajghat - the people following an ideology because of which Rajghat was constructed before time,” he said.

“Gandhi-ji wanted to live 125 years, Rajghat had to be constructed much later. The ideology because of which Rajghat had to be constructed before time… people supporting that ideology are sitting there on fast,” he said.

He also asked what the BJP was celebrating at Rajghat as their leaders were seen dancing.

“And what a fast, the leader of opposition (in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj) is dancing with her companions. What is the seriousness, why are they celebrating?” he said.

“Those who are backing Ramdev did not even had anything to do with satyagrah, not even the struggle for independence,” Dwivedi added.

He also dismissed the comparison of the Ramlila Ground eviction of Ramdev and his supporters with Jallianwala Bagh.

“This incident is being compared to Jallianwala Bagh… what happened in Jallianwala Bagh and how the nation was shaken, those atrocities are being compared to this. Why? These people have not even participated in any movement,” he said.

“A ’satyagrahi’ does not run away hiding, wearing women’s clothes. They are ready to die for Satyagrah,” Dwivedi said, in a reference to the ruse adopted by Ramdev to escape.