This may not be music to Left parties’ ears. Leaders across the political spectrum, namely Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, Jharkhand’s leader of the Opposition and JMM veteran Sudhir Mahto, on Saturday played to the gallery along with Chief Minister Arjun Munda, and heaped praises on yoga guru Baba Ramdev at a function held in the sprawling Morahabadi ground here.

The coming together of political leaders of different hues assumes significance as the communist leaders on Friday alleged that the Jharkhand Government had been using the yoga camp run by Ramdev for political campaign against the Opposition, especially the Left, in view of the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states.

The leaders converged on Morahabadi for the concluding ceremony of Ramdev’s camp, which started on February 19 and witnessed the yoga guru’s fiery speeches against the communists after a member of the CPM filed a PIL in Jharkhand High Court challenging a circular issued by the district administration in which teachers and schoolchildren had been asked to attend the yoga sessions on February 23. Appreciating Chief Minister Arjun Munda for organising a yoga camp in the state capital, Union Minister of State for Food Processing, Subodh Kant Sahay, expressed confidence that the people across the country would continue to benefit from the yogic techniques being imparted by Baba Ramdev.  

‘Great service’

“Baba is indeed rendering great service to mankind by organising such a camp. It offers a platform for the haves and have-nots to rub shoulders with each other and work their way to better health,” said Congress leader Mr Sahay who represents the Ranchi parliamentary seat.

While the CPM demanded a public apology from Chief Minister Munda accusing his government of misusing government machinery for political campaign, Ramdev early this week fired salvos at the communists saying the country needed a nationalist communist party as the existing one would not do anything for the country.

The yoga guru went on to say that the “communists distorted our history... Yoga will wipe them out. But, of course, not the good communists.”

However, for a change on the concluding day of the camp, senior Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Sudhir Mahto heaped praises on Ramdev saying the swami had aroused the people’s consciousness towards their health by organising a yoga camp and coining slogans like ‘living healthy is our birthright’. “He is spearheading a revolution on the health front. A revolution none had imagined in the past.” Describing Ramdev as “secular face”, Chief Minister Munda said his camp was attended by all the people, irrespective of caste and creed. “This simply underscores our unity in diversity,” he said.

Over 800 people belonging to the minority community participated in the camp at Ranchi. Meanwhile, doctors of Ranchi called on Ramdev and told him that in spite of their admiration for yoga as a technique for better heath, yoga by itself could not offer solutions to serious health problems.

“Discontinuing medicines after getting inspired is a dangerous thing to do and this often leads to drastic results,” the doctors told Ramdev who heard them with rapt attention.