Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Congress has again questioned the need for four ministers to go to meet Baba Ramdev at the airport even though the party leadership and the government were learnt to have sorted out their differences on the issue at a meeting at 10 Janpath last Sunday.
Government has the duty to respond to the demand of the civil society but it should be done in a way that it does not compromise the dignity and rightful authority of an elected government. Was it necessary for four senior ministers to go the airport? asked the editorial in the latest issue of party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh.
Seeking to question the projection of some social activists as the sole repository of the civil society,the editorial stated,It is also desirable for representatives of the civil society to understand that law-making involves certain procedures and there are forums to discuss issues related to the Constitution. The elected government and Parliament also represent the civil society and its aspirations. No specific group or set of people can be allowed to decide constitutional matters on the street.
The magazine noted that the movement led by Anna Hazare had caught public imagination. But in the din was lost the fact that the NAC was seized of the matter and was on the verge of coming out with its recommendations, it said.
At a meeting presided over by Congress president Sonia Gandhi last Sunday,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had clarified that it was the yoga guru who had requested to meet him. The ministers had gone to the airport to meet him and not to receive him as it was made out to be,sources present at the meeting quoted him as saying.
Initially,the venue for the meeting was fixed at Custom House near the airport,but the idea was abandoned due to security considerations. Ramdev then suggested some other venues but the government rejected them as they were linked with the RSS,said sources. It was at that juncture that it was decided that the ministers should hold talks with the yoga guru at the VIP lounge of the airport. Sundays meeting was also attended by Home Minister P Chidambaram,Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and other senior party leaders.
On Wednesday,Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh had told The Indian Express,Pranabda should not have gone there. Such a senior person in the government going to meet Ramdev at airport was uncalled for. I had no problems with other ministers going. The issue is over now. A day after the ministers visit to the airport,Singh had called on Mukherjee to express his dismay at the governments decision,said sources.
During the meeting at 10 Janpath,said sources,the party leadership was informed that the police were ready with an externment notice for Baba Ramdev from April 14 only even as it engaged him in talks. There were also preparations to serve the notice on the Baba at the airport but it was not carried out as Ramdev promised to end his tapa in three days and the government hoped to persuade him to cancel his proposed fast.
On June 3,when Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay were in the meeting with the yoga guru at Claridges Hotel,there were again plans to extern him from there but it was not executed due to a written undertaking from Ramdevs close aide Acharya Balkrishnap that he would declare the end of the fast the next afternoon.
As for the police crackdown,sources said though the party was not aware of the plan,it agreed to the governments decision as party leaders,including the corporator from the Jama Masjid area,were frantically calling up senior party leaders after Sadhvi Ritambharas speech at Ramlila Maidan on Saturday to warn against serious trouble brewing up in the area. The government had also received similar feedback,which forced it to swoop down on Ramdev and his supporters at night.
