Ramdev ends fast,campaign will go on
Doctors said Ramdev was stable and would be discharged in a day or two.
Baba Ramdev today ended his nine-day-old fast,honouring the appeal of popular spiritual gurus Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and Morari Babu as well as other sants,who arrived at the hospital to persuade the yoga guru to give up his fast. Doctors said Ramdev was stable and would be discharged in a day or two.
Ramdevs close associate Balkrishna,who also ended his fast today,said the Baba had considered the request of hundreds of his followers and people from the sants fraternity.
Reading out a message from Ramdev,he said that the agitation against black money and corruption would continue. I will continue my struggle till my last breath, Balakrishna quoted Ramdev as saying.
Denying that it was a climbdown,the Babas camp claimed he had achieved the objective of spreading awareness about the issues of black money and corruption.
In what seemed to be a well-scripted move,Ravishankar,Morari Bapu and other saffron-robed Hindu sants arrived at the hospital here today,one after another,within a span of an hour,to appeal to Ramdev.
In fact,with his core team,as well as Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokriyal Nishank,Ravishankar and even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat expressing concern about Ramdevs deteriorating health in the last few days,it became clear that the ground for calling off his fast was being prepared.
Sources said the decision to call off the fast was taken on Saturday night itself,but the stage had to be set. For over an hour today,Ravishankar,Morari Babu,the sants and Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy,a surprise entrant,were closeted with the Baba at the hospital.
Ravishankar was the first to emerge. Babaji has broken his fast. He has taken juice, he said. A little later,Morari Bapu,representatives of the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samaj and Swamy came out and addressed the media. They were followed by Balakrishna,who read out the message from the yoga guru.
Everyone claimed to have played a role in persuading Ramdev to end his fast. They hailed the good work being done by the Baba to bring back the black money and offered their support.
The Sant Samajs Vinod Giri condemned the adamant attitude of the Centre,and said the Samaj was ready to continue the agitation with Ramdev. He claimed that they had the peoples power,and this could unseat those in power.
Using the platform,Swamy lashed out at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and accused the government of being heartless and devilish.
Meanwhile,both the Congress and BJP welcomed Ramdevs decision to end his fast. Congress general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said it is good news while BJP spokesperon Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party had a sense of satisfaction.
Share
