Police lathi charged and beat the peaceful protestors at midnight and removed Baba Ramdev from the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi by force, this police action ordered by the Government is the height of injustice or ADHARMA.
Yesterday in Wembley about 400 people came to show their support for Swami Ramdev’sSatyagrah Fast in Delhi and we marched silently from the Brent Indian Association to the Sanatan Temple and back. Sunita Poddar, the organiser from the Yoga Trust (UK), welcomed everyone back in the hall and showed a video from Swami ji giving facts and figures on the enormity of corruption in India and according to his calculations there are trillions of dollars stashed away mainly by the Indian politicians in Swiss banks.
Sunita Poddar then connected a call directly to the Ram Lila Maidan in Delhi where apparently hundreds of thousands of people had gathered in support of Swami ji’s fast. Swamini Ritambra Devi ji spoke on the phone from there and described the people’s passion for this cause and thanked and blessed everyone who had come to support in Wembley. Muna Chauhan compeered the event and invited me to speak; my speech is as follows: “The 11th Demand for ending Corruption I see there are 10 demands for this Satyagrah 2 by Swami Ramdev but I think keeping to the tradition of India there should be an 11th demand. Although the Hindus invented the Zero they never end auspicious things with a Zero, it is always 11 or 51 or 101 and so on. We always add the number one after a Zero. And this 11th demand should be to end the dynasty politics of India and in accordance with the wishes of Satygrah 1 under Gandhi ji to bring back Ram Rajya or Vedic Panchayat Raj, where the taxes should be first channelled to go to each village so that people can control their own destiny. Only then the taxes should be allocated to the Blocks, and then to the State and what is left to be spent for central administration and defence and other strategies for the nation.
The Village Panchayats need to be empowered to decide on their local needs of education and health with an alliance with the state and central Governments. There should be a role for every elected Panchayat to control a budget and therefore have a say at the top level. This was the vision of Satyagrah of Gandhi ji and now is the time to demand this condition in Satyagrah 2 of Swami Ramdevji. I had the opportunity of meeting the Rural Minister Mr C P Joshi last year and they do now give money to Panchayats but it is pitiful. I was impressed with the sincerity of the Minister and his plans were promising but the villages need a much greater share of taxes to be allocated to them. As we heard from Swami ji even if corruption money stolen by the politicians from India’s people, hidden in swiss banks, can be recouped each village can have 100 crore rupees to develop itself.
I say, ‘end of dynasty politics’, because I see it as the root cause of India’s corruption. Corruption is not just about money. It starts with ‘favours’ and benefits in kind and once we get on that path from the top level of a dynasty Raj which by definition survives not on its own merit but by favouritism and additionally instilling fear in the populace. Thus due to the fear instilled in society corruption is bound to flourish. This dynasty politics is in my view the root cause of all corruption.
Just last Thursday the Times of India reported a Government minister Digvijay Singh replying to a question that the Government was now scared of Baba Ramdev, saying, ” If we were scared Ramdev would have been put behind bars, there is no fear that is why he is out in the open and there are discussions with him”.
Anil Bhanot