Just as Gandhian Anna Hazare called off a fast at Jantar Mantar, yoga guru Baba Ramdev has begun one at Ramila Maidan. A section of intelligentsia says that while Hazare’s movement though on the downside of popularity is still characterised by an engagement of keen minds on the debate on corruption, Ramdev’s is a movement driven by popularity and emotions. The yoga guru also severely compromised his anti-corruption platform by putting up posters of his aide Balakrishna (who is in jail for forging passport documents) alongside those of Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad at the fast venue.

It is actions such as these that allowed law minister Salman Khursheed to liken his Ramlila Maidan fast as another Ramlila while Mani Shankar Aiyar dismissed Ramdev and his followers as a “bunch of jokers” (on CNN-IBN on Thursday night).

Do you believe that Ramdev has debased the debate on corruption?

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