Modi govt makes an incorrect move

The Narendra Modi government has come up with its most controversial decision just before it completes six months in office. It has accorded Z security for yoga guru Ramdev while it has withdrawn similar security cover for Congress leaders Jitin Prasad, Sachin Pilot, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and former union minister Beni Prasad Verma. This is a politically incorrect move and raises several questions. One, why should a yoga guru be given this facility in the first place? This is rather unprecedented. Extending such a security cover to a yoga teacher like Ramdev who professes to be a yogi questions the very credentials of the self-proclaimed sadhu, an ascetic, whose very claim to fame is that he is above the feeling of fear. Two, it smacks of a political move to return favor to somebody like Ramdev who had actively campaigned for Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded Indian general elections. Three, it gives an impression that the security cover for Ramdev is more out of political considerations rather than actual threat perceptions on the ground. Why should a yoga teacher, howsoever, high profile he is, be given such an elaborate security cover? As per the latest decision of the Modi government, Ramdev would be secured by contingent of 25 personnel from the CRPF (Central Reserve Paramilitary Force, an armed paramilitary force of the Indian government). Whenever Ramdev travels outside the state of Uttarakhand, he will be protected by an equal number of policemen from the local police. Why should a self-proclaimed spiritual personality be given such an elaborate security cover from unknown assailants at the cost of the taxpayers? Ramdevs self-proclaimed status of being a spiritual person is highly controversial and doubtful. He was among the most vocal supporters of Modi. So much so that Arun Jaitley, Modis Man Friday in his Cabinet who holds three key portfolios including that of finance, had described him as the new Mahatma Gandhi. Jaitleys comparison of Ramdev with Mahatma Gandhi is both ludicrous and questionable considering the controversial activities of this self-styled guru. The previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by previous Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had launched many cases of financial fraud against Ramdev. Modi and the BJP may well argue that that UPA government had launched a witch-hunt against Ramdev. They are actually moving in to protect their assets, which are being targeted by the opposition. But in public perception he is not a clean man and definitely not a man he projects himself to be. The Modi governments move to accord Z security cover was followed by an unrelated chain of violent incidents in Hissar, Haryana, involving another self-proclaimed religious man Rampal who enjoys BJP patronage. From the perspective of the Modi government the move to accord Z security status to its key supporter Ramdev is understandable. After all, it is the payback time. Ramdev has a proven high degree of political nuisance value. He was a prominent twisted knife into the previous Congress-led governments bowels when he joined Gandhian activist Anna Hazares high-octane peoples agitation against the Manmohan Singh government over the twin issues of corruption and black money. Such was Ramdevs clout that six top Cabinet ministers of the Manmohan Singh government, including the undesignated number two Pranab Mukherjee who is now the President of India, had rushed to the Delhi airport to meet him to dissuade him from joining Anna Hazares agitation. Ramdev had then discovered his immense political clout, refused to oblige the UPA government and eventually joined Anna Hazare at his agitation at Ramlila Ground a venue which was then fast turning into Indias very own Tahrir Square. Soon thereafter Ramdev was chased out from Delhis Ramlila Maidan in a midnight brutal police action, which saw Ramdev escaping dressed in womans clothing. Ramdev was already anti-UPA government but the Ramlila Maidan police crackdown hardened his attitude against the Congress-led UPA government. This explains Ramdevs pathological hatred for the Congress party. Now by giving him the highest form of security cover, the Modi government has actually settled old political scores with the arch political rival called the Congress. Ramdev has successfully minted his political rise and has become a thriving business entrepreneur. His business empire is worth well over a billion dollars, if not more! Recently he had even floated his own political party and contested elections, which proved to be a damp squib. The BJP might have repaid its political loan to Ramdev by giving him a nationwide Z-category security cover but eventually it is going to prove to be a costly political gamble for the Modi government. Watch this space!

The writer is a New Delhi-based independent journalist and a political commentator who tweets @Kishkindha.

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Modi govt makes an incorrect move