BJP distances from Ramdev's 'force-formation' statement

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 9: BJP today (June 9) sought to distance itself from yoga guru Baba Ramdev's plan to set up a force as part of his anti-corruption crusade, saying the party never propagates violence.

"We will not support anything like that as the party never propagates violence," BJP national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said at a meet-the-press programme here.

He said BJP would extend moral support to anybody who will come forward to fight corruption and rejected Home Minister P Chidrabaram's charge that civil rights activist Anna Hazare and Ramdev were masks of RSS.

Javedkar said the Congress was trying to frustrate anti-graft movement in the country by targeting Hazare and Ramdev.

Criticising the Home Minister for attacking RSS on Ramdev issue, Javadekar said RSS was not a banned organisation and challenged the government to take action against it.

"Let the government ban it (RSS) and face the music. The movement had been banned twice earlier. But it has gained strength as the largest ever school of patriotism in the country," he said.

Condemning the action on anti-corruption protesters at Ram Lila Maidan on June 5, Javadekar demanded a Supreme Court monitored probe into the police action to unearth the truth.

He said the party also wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi to apologise to the nation for the police action during Ramdev's fast.

PTI