Since Swami Ramdev started appearing on television, teaching yoga in his own style and preaching masses, one thing has been his style statement; being awfully vocal. He has opinion on everything and he never hesitated in airing them. He preached and commented not only on medicine, Ayurveda or Yoga; but also on corruption, nation building, democracy and everything else. This sometime drew sharp criticism, even mockery and contempt from the so-called intelligentsia. It made him joke of the day and more often than not took away the gravity of the situation. Then again this is a part of his personality, a piece of his charisma and you can’t separate it from him; or just because of this one habit of being loud you can’t undermine the good things he talk about; things that makes absolute sense, things which are for greater good and things which are need of the hour.
After the Ramlila ground incident, the government and particularly congress gave an additional boost to Ramdev’s campaign; he became an overnight hero even for those who had apprehensions against him. His footage of jumping from the stage, and people being beaten up, made the public angry. He garnered support across party lines and it seemed he would be able to drive home some points now. But just when it was all going his way, he blew it. In the midst of all the confusion and the surprise with which he was hit by the government, he could not anticipate his moves and he missed not by an inch but a mile.
But Baba is no politician; he is a Yoga guru who happens to be a nationalist. You can’t expect him to understand the nitty-grittys of the game. You need to be shrewd, smart and ready to play dirty, if you have to, for the greater good. Unlike the government Baba thought of playing by the rules and we all know that led him to nowhere.
Now it’s been more than 2 weeks since Swami Ramdev broke his second fast outing, and since then we have not heard from him. Unlike his usual self he is quite and it makes one wonder, where is Swami Ramdev? In an earlier post ‘Knowing Babanomics’ the talking point was about the conviction and hard work of Ramdev, and how he is not someone who can be easily scared.
After a defeat it is always good to regroup and rethink your strategy. If this is what he is doing then he will be back with a bang, and this time the government will not be able to write him off so easily. He has seen what government is capable of and will be prepared for the worst. If he has learnt from his mistakes then the return would be strategically sound and bigger and hopefully he will not repeat the same mistakes. But if he has actually succumbed to the government’s pressure, then I won’t blame him, atleast he tried to do, what some might consider to be wrong, but we know is right. And no matter what the result is, the effort is never in vain.
