Digvijay Singh’s anti-Baba stance; Congress’ flip-flop?

In the season of 'fasts"; Baba Ramdev is the new kid on the block. Powered with his 'asanas' and spiritual high-ground, he with his sprawling entourage is all set to

out of eternal slumber. Intending to take on the corrupt babus and their too-big-to-fathom black money accounts stashed abroad, the Baba is basking in all the attention he is receiving.

After the ceremonial welcome, the sort that you would expect when a head-of-state-come visiting, Baba Ramdev was welcomed by three Cabinet-ranked ministers namely Kapil Sibal, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay. When the UPA is doing all it can to employ a no-holds barred approach to stop the proposed fast against corruption from taking off; it only leads us to wonder what has led to such hassled behaviour.

After the UPA Minister"s went into a tizzy and is tooth and nail opposing the fast by coaxing and exercising power in succession, it was Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh"s statement that became a wrong note in the whole song. With Digvijay going ballistic calling Ramdev more of a “businessman than a sanyasi". He also went a step further and stated, “If Congress was scared, Ramdev would have been put behind bars. There is no fear that is why he is out in the open and there are discussions with him."

Digvijay Singh has always been notorious for his statements that borders around profanity. But one tends to wonder if the double-speak by the Congress Ministers with regards to Baba Ramdev is a well-thought out strategy.

Initially indulging in some coaxing and cajoling, and later graduating the treatment to arm-twisting, Digvijay"s statement only adds more spice to the Congress" rhetoric. With public attention span diverted, pulled and stretched in multiple directions, Digvijay manages to get off with it most of the time.

The appalling fact is that Digvijay gets away with his preposterous statements with no reprimand"s or warning from the Congress high-command and gets pushed aside as speaking his mind with the party clearly not taking any responsibility for his garbled statements.

But with the Baba eliciting more attention than the original crusader Anna Hazare within government circles, one has to give cognizance to UP politics playing a part in the scheme of things. With an eye on the UP elections next year, is Digvijaya the chosen one to do the ground work ahead of the polls. He has been quoted as saying earlier, “We are not going to forge an alliance with BJP, BSP and Samajwadi Party for the Uttar Pradesh 2012 assembly polls, rather we will go for alliances with the some smaller parties." Is the Congress" person-in-charge of the state, Digvijay"s public snub against Ramdev targeted in that direction? Baba"s proximity to the RSS is also a cause for Congress" concern.

But it looks like Baba Ramdev is having the last laugh with all the Congress Ministers vying for Baba"s attention. With Congress" indulging in some eyewash of the tallest order, we media people had enough grub to chew on for the next couple of days. With dissenting voices and actions coming in from the same party, one does not need enemies outside when there are enough within it.

OneIndia News