Govt tries to woo Baba Ramdev again today

With Baba Ramdev insisting that his hunger strike against corruption will begin as scheduled on Saturday, the government is pulling out the stops to convince him otherwise.

Senior Cabinet ministers are likely to meet him in Delhi again today - yesterday, as many as four ministers including Pranab Mukherjee rushed to the airport to receive him, a move that has allegedly upset the Congress which felt it was too grand a gesture. The ministers spent time with the yoga icon at the airport lounge, reassuring him that the government is serious about tackling corruption with a series of measures including a tough new Lokpal Bill (Citizen Ombudsman Bill) which is scheduled to be presented in Parliament by the end of this month.

That bill is being drafted by a committee that couples five ministers with five representatives of civil society led by veteran Gandhian Anna Hazare. Earlier this year, it was Mr Hazare's hunger strike that served as a call to action for middle class India which organized a series of protests across the country, demanding that the government end decades of lethargy to introduce a Lokpal Bill that will combat corruption within the government and bureaucrats.

Mr Ramdev's critics say that his fast against corruption is a concerted effort to upstage Mr Hazare - an argument that was bolstered when the Baba contradicted Mr Hazare to state that the Prime Minister and senior judges should not be covered by the Lokpal Bill. Today, however, Mr Ramdev said that he had suggested only that this point be debated. And in Pune, Mr Hazare said he will join the Baba's fast at Delhi's Ram Lila Maidan, where thousands of people are expected to show up starting Saturday.

The government stands to benefit greatly if Mr Ramdev emerges as a parallel power station in civil society. Mr Hazare's determination to have non-government representatives involved with the drafting of the Lokpal Bill set a new precedent for India - one that the government has described as dangerous.

But given the overwhelming public support that Mr Hazare received, the government is keen to avoid yet another confrontation with civil society activists. There's also the added concern that the Baba could ally more closely with the Opposition BJP, which has been targeting the government for being tolerant of corruption.

Government sources say that's why the four ministers were seen at the airport yesterday. It was upto Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh to indicate that perhaps the government was making too much of the Baba. "Baba Ramdev is not a guru, he's a businessman. If Congress were scared of him, it would have put Ramdev behind bars. Ramdev is more of a businessman now. He charges Rs. 50,000 for teaching yoga," he said. (Watch: Digvijaya upset with red carpet for Ramdev?)