“Corrupt politicians are responsible for the Maoist problems,” said Ramdev, who rose from an illiterate farming family to rank 29th in a recent list of India’s most powerful people.
“Politicians should go and die if they cannot provide security,” he said. “If any politician got a bullet anywhere near them, they’d pee in their pants.”
Ramdev’s views on corruption may gain traction in a country where, according to Social Watch India, a quarter of lawmakers had criminal charges pending against them last year.
Ramdev said he would speed India’s economic rise by retrieving billions of dollars he believes are stashed away in foreign tax havens, which echoes a key manifesto item by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in the last election.
However, his critics say some of his treatment claims on cancer and swine flu are misleading and worry about what will happen if Ramdev’s influence were translated into a role in government.
“If he has influence in the political process, it will be very dangerous,” said Sanal Edamaruku, of the Indian Rationalist Association. “If he is in the political decision-making process, it can do enormous damage to the country’s progress.”
RSS