Baba Ramdev’s remedies to corruption

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Wednesday suggested that the government should ban Rs500 and Rs1,000 currency notes. “Doing so would root out corruption,” he said.

Speaking at the Press Club of Bangalore, he said that majority of the funds used in elections was black money being stashed abroad by corrupt politicians and officials. The first thing the government must do is to declare all that money as the nation’s property.

Welcoming the Jan Lok pal Bill, he said that it must be implemented as soon as possible. “The power of the bill must not be ignored. It should be made like the Lokayukta, which is an independent body. Only then will all the black money be retrieved,” he said.

He said that the country should be called Bharat and not India. “I don’t want to call ‘Bharat’ as India, as it is the name given by the British.”

He also added that ‘Bharat’ is a spiritual country and not a secular one and that it has no place for an evil such as corruption.

“Besides yoga, we are also giving education pertaining to anti-corruption. Though we have to work on it on an international level, we also have to work within ourselves to completely root out corruption,” he said.

When asked if spirituality can be used to eradicate corruption, he said, “Yes, it can. About 99% of the country’s population is honest and hard working. It is only the remaining 1% that is corrupt. The government should implement stricter laws to check this problem.”

About the current education system, he pointed out that, even after 62 years of independence, the standard of education was not up to the mark.

When asked if he was a political, spiritual, or a yoga guru, he replied, “Jaise drishti, vaise shrishti. I just want to bring a positive change in the country.”