Baba Ramdev has widely publicized what he wants to accomplish by going on the hunger strike that he’s set to begin on Saturday. He is demanding that the government nationalize the money that Indian nationals have unlawfully sent abroad as well as declare that such transfers are prosecutable as treason.
The yoga guru’s anti-corruption demands are part of a much larger plan to build national character and awaken India’s “sleeping self-respect.” Here is a list of nine changes Baba Ramdev would like to bring about in India if he could, according to a review of statements he has made on his Web site and elsewhere.
1. Buy Indian only: “We will totally boycott all foreign goods manufactured with ‘zero’ technology. In every sphere of our personal, public and national life we will give the topmost place to India and Indianness,” says the Baba on his Web site. This may sound good to young people who were not old enough to purchase goods in the 1980s, when there were only Indian goods manufactured, at least some of which appeared to be “zero” technology. But it is clearly easier to practice than to preach given that this would mean, for example, not using private charter jets manufactured by U.S.-based companies, as a certain yoga guru did on Wednesday.
2. No more Western medicine: When 90% to 99% of diseases can be cured by yoga and ayurveda, there’s no need to be “slaves” to Western medicine, he says.
3. Bureaucrats, politicians must go public: Why are public facilities so much better in countries like the U.K. or Canada than they are in India, asks the swami? He suggests that it’s because they’re not strictly for poor people. Of course, the well-off in those Western countries also turn to private care and private schools, but he might actually be on to something here.
4. Hang everyone: To be fair, not quite everyone. But the yoga guru would like to extend the death penalty — which right now goes to crimes considered “the rarest of the rare,” such as major acts of terrorism — a little more widely. Baba Ramdev would like to see put to death the corrupt, rapists, terrorists, adulterators and others “who cause death by spreading poisonous pollution that causes tuberculosis, cancer and other fatal diseases.” This could also spur job creation of a certain kind.
5. Ban 500-rupee and 1,000 rupee notes: He has also called for the government to outlaw large-denomination currency because, he says, “such notes are used in 99% of wrongdoing” because they make it easy to transport large amounts of money around inconspicuously. Having only small currency notes would make it more clunky to pay hefty bribes, since large numbers of bills would be involved, he suggests. “In a country where 840 million people live on 20 rupees or less a day…what is the need for currency notes?” he asks, in a handout explaining his anti-corruption demands.
6. Go organic: India should stop spending billions on pesticides and fertilizer and go organic, the old-fashioned cow-dung way, he advocates. Baba Ramdev also advocates that India should keep its distance from GM foods.
7. Train Indian scientists in Hindi and regional languages: It is Indian government policy to promote Hindi and other official languages. But right now English-speakers continue to get the top-paying jobs in the country and to dominate the country’s elite ranks. The rise of Hindi and other non-English media means there are more jobs for non-English speakers, but given that ministers are complaining about the quality of even respected English-language engineering schools, it’s difficult to see India setting up top-class scientific institutes that are proficient in other languages any time soon. An unobjectionable idea but difficult.
8. Get rid of British-era laws: Baba Ramdev says India has about 35,000 laws that date back to when the British ruled the country, and he thinks it’s time to get rid of them. It’s true that these days Indians say many colonial-era rules, from those that govern land acquisition to provisions against sedition, were meant for keeping a subject people in check and are inappropriate for independent, democratic India. Yet, when the Delhi High Court struck down a law dating to the Raj that was oppressing one group of Indians, the swami wasn’t pleased.
9. “Cure” gay people through breathing: Baba Ramdev has said that homosexuality is an illness and yoga can cure it (and everything else, apparently), which is why he opposed the above-mentioned court judgment overturning a provision in India’s penal code that made gay sex a criminal act.
–Agencies–