Good luck Baba Ramdev, hope you get the black money back

“I am going to Delhi with full confidence and I hope to bring back all the Indian black money,” said Ramdev at Ujjain before heading for his fast in New Delhi. It’s difficult to guess whether the Baba’s confidence comes out of years of yoga practice or a vision of glory that the flashing television cameras and action-hungry media can bring. Whatever it is, one wishes him luck. His intention is noble and if he manages to recover even a fraction of the black money stashed abroad, it will be a great service to the country. If successful, Baba Ramdev, a master of breathing exercises, could breathe new life into India’s economy and make it a much healthier place to live in. He is determined. He has already rejected Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s appeal to call off his fast. “If the government does not accept our demands, we will continue satyagraha peacefully till the government relents. There will be a victory of the people,” he said, inviting people to join the cause. [caption id=“attachment_18829” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Thinking about the next step. Jayanta Shaw/Reuters”]  [/caption] Mahatma Gandhi, the original proponent of satyagraha, must be getting uncomfortable wherever he is. He had advocated sparing use of the fasting technique – the Mahatma resorted to it only thrice – and for him it was basically a self-purification exercise, not so much a a tool of political blackmail. Baba Ramdev is twisting the original concept out of shape. He is possibly using it as a launch pad for a political career. If only he had asked so many of his rich followers to go through self-purification! What is clearly missing this time is the frenzy. When Gandhian Anna Hazare took up his fast at Jantar Mantar, he had the backing of almost the entire nation. The support from the cross-section of the Indian population was spontaneous. It was a tribute to a honest man taking up a honest cause. One does not witness the same response to Ramdev’s fast. The Twitteratti  is involved but not advocating much, the middle class is circumspect and the Bollywood bleeding hearts have not exactly been brimming with enthusiasm. What’s wrong? It’s not easy to place a finger. Possibly, fasting as an instrument of mass mobilisation has lost the novelty factor and the curiousity quotient. A couple of generations read about it only in history books. Anna provided them an opportunity to have a feel of it through live demonstration. It is possible fatigue has set in already – too much has been going on around the issue of corruption and there’s too much confusion as well. It could also be that the Baba does not inspire as much confidence as Anna does. The yoga guru’s hurry on the black money matter is a bit confounding, particularly when the Supreme Court is looking into the issue. There’s is a general understanding that the issue is far too complicated than presumed and does not lend itself to simplistic solutions. For starters, there’s no clear figure on the money stashed abroad. Some estimates put it in the range between $500 and  $1,400 billion. A study by the Global Financial Integrity Group puts it at $462 billion. The government feels these are unverifiable assumptions since there’s no clear way to track illicit money. There’s no doubt the government has been lax on the issue – it commissioned a study to be undertaken by three top economic think tanks only recently – but to presume that a fast can change things dramatically is a bit difficult to digest. For now, Baba Ramdev is relishing all the attention. He was received by senior cabinet ministers Kapil Sibal, PK Bansal and Subodh Kant Sahay at the Delhi airport today. Later in the day, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to meet him to explain the government’s position. Senior Congress ministers bending over backward to please someone does not happen often.