Yoga guru ramps up his anti-corruption drive

Published on 13/08/2012 01:07

A POPULAR Indian yoga guru has threatened to expand his anti-corruption protest nationwide if the government doesn’t act decisively to bring back billions of dollars of ill-gotten money that Indians allegedly have stashed abroad.

Baba Ramdev yesterday told thousands of cheering supporters at a sprawling fairground in the capital that he would announce an action plan this week to “intensify the protest across the country in the form of a people’s revolt”.

He asked his supporters to be ready to accept arrest, but urged them to be peaceful and shun violence. “I will be the first person to go to jail,” he said.

Ramdev and his supporters say they have not eaten for three days to pressure the government to accept their anti-
corruption demands, including actions to prevent tax evasion and the illegal stashing of money in overseas banks.