Ramdev's demands legitimate: Prashant Bhushan
04 Jun 2011
The civil society led anti-corruption movement has taken the nation by storm. However, of late, it seems to be getting tinted in saffron shades. Where will Baba Ramdev's indefinite hunger strike leave the Anna Hazare-led movement?
More critically, what is to become of the Lokpal Bill? Lawyer, activist and serial public interest litigator Prashant Bhushan has some answers.
Speaking on CNBC-TV18's Beautiful People, he says that the yoga guru s demands are aligned with the campaign for Lokpal. "Most of his demands are legitimate and we agree with him," Bhushan says.
CNBC-TV18 shares with domain-b the transcript of its interview with Bhushan
As someone who is committed and invested a lot of time and personal reputation on getting an effective Lokpal Bill drafted, how are you reacting to Baba Ramdev s plans?
Most of Baba Ramdev s demands are legitimate. His demands are of course much wider than just a Lokpal Bill, such as getting the money stashed abroad back and double taxation treaties, land acquisition act, about genetically modified foods etc. Most of the things that he is asking for are things that we agree with.
Isn't there a sense of disquiet and dismay? Perhaps, it is even distracting at best and hijacking at worst, the issue or the work at hand that is drafting the Lokpal Bill?
No, I don t think that the attention and the focus have shifted. In fact, most of Baba Ramdev's demands are focused on corruption and, therefore, his fast certainly brings more public attention to issues of corruption.
