VIF, Baba Ramdev differed on methods to fight graft: Gurumurthy

S Gurumurthy, author and commentator, who is on the advisory board of New Delhi-based think-tank Vivekananda International Foundation, says a collaboration that began with the Foundation and Baba Ramdev in April last year—shortly before Team Anna’s first agitation—was very short-lived. But was the foundation the brain behind the yoga guru’s campaign against black money? What led to the falling out? Excerpts from the interview A seminar on ‘Transparency and Accountability in Governance’ hosted by the Vivekananda International Foundation concluded with the formation of an anti-corruption front that involved Baba Ramdev. Is the Foundation the architect his campaign against black money?[caption id=“attachment_425353” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Separate paths. PTI[/caption] Vivekananda Kendra is the promoter of the Vivekananda Foundation (VIF). The Vivekananda Kendra was inaugurated by president VV Giri and Indira Gandhi was one of it first visitors. The VIF is an intellectual forum that organises a variety of meetings. It had also invited Baba Ramdev at one point – it was a meeting in which I also participated. The last time we met him was at Haridwar, where he had invited us the following month or so. After that he didn’t contact us. Perhaps, he was not comfortable with our views. Are you and Baba Ramdev no longer on the same page when it comes to fighting corruption? He wanted us to work as a team. We accepted and we were called to Haridwar. We spent couple of days with him. Afterwards, our way of thinking and working and his probably didn’t match. And he didn’t call us after that. What were the points of difference? Our idea is that there can be no anti-corruption movement to make the country honest. An anti-corruption movement is always to punish the dishonest. You have to name the dishonest people. And it is always a fight against the establishment, that is, the ruling establishment. We felt that you have to target the UPA government, you have to target Sonia Gandhi. And that is where we had a difference of opinion. Where do you see the Baba Ramdev movement going from here? There were only two anti-corruption campaigns that resulted in success. One was led by JP and the other was led by VP Singh. And both targeted clearly the corrupt people, with their photographs. You cannot fight corruption without the picture of the corrupt. You have to hit at the fountain of corruption. Given its proximity with members from the Sangh, is VIF influenced by it? Vivekananda International Foundation is promoted by Vivekananda Kendra, which has a neutral history. Who are the RSS people? The person who constructed the Vivekananda Kendra was an RSS man. And he got 370 MPs belonging to all parties to recommend it. How is it an RSS project? Simply because RSS man is involved in organising it, doesn’t become an RSS institution.