| PM should act on black money, says Ramdev |
NEW DELHI India could have won a gold if the Olympics gave a medal for corruption, yoga guru Baba Ramdev said on Friday and asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to demonstrate his “political honesty and will” and act on getting back black money stashed abroad.
Addressing thousands of supporters at the Ramlila ground on the penultimate day of his three-day fast against corruption, the yoga guru said: “India could have won gold if there was a competition for corruption in the Olympics”.
Ramdev then told his supporters: “This is not a matter to applaud” and asked all Indians to support his agitation against black money and graft.
Directing his demand to the prime minister, Ramdev said: “Why is the prime minister not acting on the issue of black money? The government should reveal the names of those who have black money stashed abroad. Stop making excuses. The prime minister should demonstrate political honesty and will on black money,” he added.
Ramdev said the government should at least inform the people by when they would get the black money back. “If black money is brought back to the country, the issue of price rise will be solved and high taxes will reduce. The Maoist problem will also be solved,” he said adding that every Indian pays around 30 different types of taxes. We will wait till Saturday and then announce our future course of action,” Ramdev said, reiterating his statement on Thursday that he would give the government three days to act and then decide on the next course of action.
The crowds swelled as the day progressed on day two of the agitation.
Most men and women at the sprawling ground seemed to be long time followers of Ramdev.
“Yoga can be learnt even on television. We are here only for the revolution,” said Dheer Singh, an Arya Samaj leader from Uttarakhand.
A police officer on Thursday put the crowds at 50-60,000 - who have come from states around Delhi as well as afar. And they plan to stay put as long as Ramdev wants them to.
Meanwhile the federal government said that undisclosed income of Rs493.25 billion has been detected in the country in the last three years while tax evasion of Rs6 billion has been found on inputs from abroad under multi-pronged efforts to check black money menace.
The information has been contained in a 13-page fact-sheet released by the finance ministry in an apparent bid to blunt the campaign by Ramdev.
Agencies
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