Hyderabad, March 21: Baba Ramdev dropped a strong hint that if political parties were not ready to come clean on corruption he will go ahead with the launch of his new political party in June this year. While reiterating his support for a separate Telangana in Hyderabad during the last leg of his Bharat Swabhiman Yatra in the state, the yoga guru said he is being targeted and ‘treated like a criminal’ because he has set out to bring about the much-needed political change in the country.
“I am doing what Mahatma Gandhi and Lord Rama have done. When Lord Rama was not spared, how will they leave me?” he asked with a smile.
The spiritual leader has put forward five demands to the government and offered to stick to his method of solving people’s health problems through yoga, if the government fulfills the demand.
Bringing back illegal money, strict laws against corruption entailing recovery and capital punishment, clearing the UN convention against Corruption Bill and declaration of foreign accounts policy were among his demands.
Stressing the need for election reforms, the spiritual guru said there should be state funding of elections and that a direct election should be initiated for the post of Prime Minister of the country.
Ramdev, who expressed support for a separate Telangana, urged the youth to continue with the struggle for separate statehood but not commit suicides for the cause. “The Prime Minister and the chief minister are directly responsible for the suicides,” he said.
The Bharat Swabhiman Yatra aimed at freeing people of corruption, addiction and instilling a sense of national fervour among the masses, came to a close in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday with a huge yoga camp held in the city.
The yatra covered 33 states and Union territories, travelling 8,000 kilometers since it began from Dwarka in Gujarat and will move on to Tamil Nadu from March 22.
–Agencies