In an election-bound state like Uttar Pradesh, Baba Ramdev is fast turning into a tool for politics.
Parties that are making a bid for secular politics are gunning for the yoga guru while those who claim to be rooting for “nationalism” are supporting him. Some are playing it safe while others are caught in a vortex of confusion.
The Congress, which seems determined to win over Muslim support for the upcoming UP Assembly elections, has been targeting Ramdev ever since he announced his decision to undertake a fast in protest against corruption and black money.
The Congress, which successfully managed to link Ramdev with the RSS and the Sangh Parivar, is now making the right noises to project a secular image.
“Baba Ramdev is working on the directive of the RSS and we will never allow the communal forces to take over the centrestage of national politics. We agree with the anti-corruption drive and the UPA is also overtime to punish the corrupt and unearth black money. In fact, the UPA has never objected to Anna Hazare’s campaign but Ramdev is being sponsored by the RSS and we will never accept this,” said a senior party leader.
The Congress is making sure that this message clearly reaches out to the Muslim voters and the party’s secular image gets refurbished.
The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, is caught in a dilemma.
The party initially condemned the Congress for the crackdown on the Ramlila Grounds but soon realised that this could be seen as a tacit support for Ramdev whose proximity with the RSS has been established.