Report: Yoga guru cancels fast after pact with govt

NDTV is reporting that yoga guru Baba Ramdev has agreed to cancel his fast against corruption after lengthy negotiations with top government officials. Instead, he will hold a daylong "victory fast."

Citing unnamed sources and cautioning that no formal announcement has been made yet, the news channel said that the truce was reached after hours of negotiations between the guru and two ministers – Kapil Sibal and Subodh Kant Sahay – at the Claridges Hotel in South Delhi.

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Earlier…. Yoga guru holds India hostage

Television yoga guru Baba Ramdev once again refused to cancel his plans to begin a fast against corruption in New Delhi Friday, even as the government's most powerful ministers pleaded with him in closed-door negotiations at a local five star hotel.

Unlike social activist Anna Hazare, who emulated Gandhi in claiming he would fast "unto death" unless the government capitulated to his demands related to creating a powerful ombudsman's office to check corruption, Ramdev said Friday that his fast would last from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on July 4, according to CNN/IBN. This will take much of the urgency out of his demands, to be sure, but it also suggests that the government has made some headway in furious negotiations held over the past two days with the guru.

Ramdev, whose daily TV yoga program and personal appearances have won him followers who number in the millions, has already erected some 250,000 square feet of waterproof tents, installed 1,300 toilets and dug two wells in a large public gathering space in central Delhi, where he expects at least 100,000 of his followers to join him in the fast against corruption.

Prime Minister sent four of his top cabinet members to greet Ramdev at the airport when he arrived in the capital on Wednesday, and he has since met repeatedly with top leaders within the government. However, as of Friday afternoon, it appeared that the fast was still slated to start on Saturday, as the government has apparently not been able to meet the guru's demands for immediate action to repatriate so-called "black money" stashed in foreign bank accounts, ban banks from operating in India if they are linked to foreign tax havens, and institute the death penalty for corruption crimes.

NDTV reported Friday afternoon that Ramdev was invited to the five-star Claridges Hotel in Delhi to meet with the two ministers deputed to talk him out of his fast just an hour after he told supporters that last night's negotiations had failed, and the fast was still to begin tomorrow.

Addressing nearly 5000 people at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, the yoga icon indicated that both sides were stretching towards a breakthrough. "Barring one or two issues, a consensus seems to be emerging between us and the government," the news channel quoted the yoga guru as saying.

A controversial figure who has in the past claimed that yoga can cure HIV/AIDS and cancer, and who also seeks to "cure" homosexuals of their sexual preference, Ramdev has right wing political leanings, which many believe tie him to the Hindu Nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its political wing, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).  Because the BJP is the Congress Party's chief rival for power, Ramdev's anti-corruption play may be more dangerous for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance than a similar movement earlier this spring led by social activist Anna Hazare.

Moreover, Ramdev's demands are more difficult to meet than Hazare's call for a national ombudsman law–which is currently under deliberation after the Congress caved in to Hazare's protest movement.

According to NDTV, the chief of the RSS, Ram Madhav, has instructed cadres "to participate in Ramdev's fight against corruption in Delhi and in districts," which is a serious concern for the government considering that the RSS has millions of members scattered throughout India.