Under attack by Opposition, civil society groups, government is not taking chances ‘Opposition version of Ramlila Maidan events exaggerated' In the aftermath of the Baba Ramdev episode, the dominant view in the United Progressive Alliance government is that it must tackle corruption on a war-footing, and on two fronts: it must not only proceed swiftly with the legislation it has promised — the Lokpal Bill and the law on black money —...

Like millions of others across India, I have spent the past week repelled by the spectacle of a weak government entering into improbable contortions over the naive and somewhat bizarre demands of Baba Ramdev. And when the “toughness” followed in the early hours of Sunday, it came in a typically cowardly fashion — with police action in the dead of the night against unarmed supporters who did not pose an...

-The Hindu   The midnight police swoop on yoga exponent and telestar ‘Baba' Ramdev and his supporters was arbitrary, brutal, and anti-democratic. A peaceful assembly had suddenly been set upon and tens of innocent people injured for no fault of their own. “No government has reached out as much as ours,” negotiating Minister Kapil Sibal had boasted on the eve of the action. “But if we can reach out, we can...

-The Business Standard   Swami Agnivesh with his Swami Vivekananda-style turban, Anna Hazare with his Gandhi cap, Baba Ramdev with his yogi’s beard...Who next? Time for a Maulvi? The voices from India’s civil society are getting curiouser and curiouser. Time was when gurus and yogis like these worried about the after life, or about the environment and vegetarianism. But today they have come to the centre-stage of Indian politics. Is it...

Congress firm but Baba Ramdev, BJP to fight UPA government's “fascism” The Union government swung into damage control mode on Sunday, in the wake of the early morning swoop by the Delhi Police on the Ramlila grounds and the bundling out from the national capital of a trembling yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who had exchanged his saffron garb for a white salwar kameez in the hope of escaping unnoticed. But this...