Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti on Saturday gave unequivocal support to yoga guru Baba Ramdev on his latest campaign against black money and appealed to the Congress and Bharatiya Janata party to come forward and present a roadmap to usher in clean politics.
Ms Bharti said that no one can deny the role of black money and all know how it has been stashed abroad and also within the country. She demanded that all political parties and their leaders should disclose their assets to enable the media do a thorough scrutiny and place the truth before the people.
Ms Bharti was addressing a press conference in the state capital. She said that Baba Ramdev has proved “swadeshi” as a successful model for economic progress not through logic alone but also in practical terms.
Ms Bharti said that Baba Ramdev has already “braved” the challenge from foreign companies and the capitalists. Now when he has attacked the beehive (of corruption), a slander campaign has been launched against him by a Congress leader. While making this observation, Ms Bharti chose not to name anyone but obviously she was referring to the Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh for his recent remarks on Baba Ramdev and the funding of his activities. Ms Bharti said Congress president Sonia Gandhi should make it clear whether the Congress leaders, who were criticising Baba Ramdev, were following the party line or speaking in their individual capacity. Those questioning Ramdev’s assets are only trying to emphasise that it is not possible for any one to be wealthy in this country without being corrupt, she pointed out. Targeting those criticising Baba Ramdev for keeping his political options open, Ms Bharti cited her own example and said she has been the chief minister of MP and also a Union minister for six years.