Ramdev eviction: Entering an era of semi-dictatorship Published: Tuesday, Jun 7, 2011, 1:18 IST By John MacLithon | Place: Mumbai

| Agency: DNA Many of the events of the past Emergency, Operation Bluestar, Indira Gandhi s assa ssination, Kashmir insurgency, Rajiv Gandhi s assassination, the crowning of Sonia Gandhi were unfortunate. Some were avoidable. For instance, Indira Gandhi impos ing the Emergency showed that democracy was fragile and could easily be hijacked . But what happened on Sunday, June 5, 2011, in the early morning at the Ramlila g rounds tops even the imposition of Emergency. The police, armed with teargas and lathis, swooped down on women, children, and old men, all led by a yoga guru wh o had never harmed anybody in his life but, on the contrary, brought happiness t o hundreds of thousands of people. There is no doubt that nobody in the Congress, not even the prime minister, woul d have dared to take such a drastic decision, without the express consent of Son ia Gandhi. In fact, only she would have been capable of taking that decision. Th us, she will have to bear the consequences, the karma, of her hostile act agains t the very core of this country: the millions of peaceful, tolerant Hindus, who were represented at the Ramlila grounds by a hundred thousand of them. This act demonstrates the utter cynicism of the Congress and its desire to stay in power at all costs and by all means. What is frightening is that Indians indi rectly support the Congress by their silence and sometimes by their overt approv al of the government s action. They keep quiet when Indian imams mourn the death o f Osama bin Laden. And they lend credence to the lies of the Congress against a man who did no wrong except demand an end to the cancer of corruption that is ea ting away at the entrails of this ancient and sacred country. What is also sad is the disunity of gurus at this time of great danger. We know that Hindu gurus and Hindus are under threat in Sonia s India. Many of them have a lready been hit: the shankaracharya was arrested and thrown in jail, the late Sa thya Sai Baba suffered accusations of paedophilia, Amrita Anandamayi lives under the shadow of hostile communists in Kerala, and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is targete d as the guru of the rich , etc... Accusations against Hinduism of superstition, brainwashing, ritualistic ignoranc e, as have been thrown at Ramdev, date back from the British missionaries and ha ve been taken up today by the communists, sections of the Congress, and the medi a. Yet, Hinduism, at least the Hinduism that goes beyond the rituals and becomes universal spirituality, as Swami Ramdev or Sri Sri Ravi Shankar teach it, has n othing to do with superstition and conning people; it is all about science, know ledge, and light. Look at pranayama, a science that has known for thousands of y ears how to harness breath and use it for controlling the mind, for a better and more spititualised life. The greatest curse of Hinduism through the ages has been its disunity and betray ing one and another. The British did not conquer India; it was given to them by its warring Hindu princes, jealous of each other. The same is true of Islamic co nquest. Today, if the combined forces of communist, Muslim, and Christian fundam entalists and the Congress win, it will not be because of their strength and val our but rather because of the disunity of Hindu leaders. Will the people of India allow it? I hope not, for we have entered now an area o f semi-dictatorship, where hundreds of thousands of phones are tapped, emails ar e read, letters opened, gurus arrested, journalists scared to speak aloud. Wake up, O ancient people of India! Your very culture and ancient spirituality a re in danger at the hands of a lady of a foreign origin like me, a Christian lik

e me, but who not only has no understanding of your ancient spirituality that pe ople call Hinduism, but is also basically hostile to it and will not hesitate to strike it as she did on Sunday, June 5, 2011, at the Ramlila grounds, New Delhi . The author, who writes under a pseudonym,is a foreign journalist who covered Sou th Asia for a European radio for three decades. Emails: john.maclithon@gmail.com & inbox@dnaindia.net