Ramdev says 'very difficult' to predict next PM
Madurai, Dec 26 :Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has said it was "very difficult" to predict the country's next Prime Minister in view of the current political situation.
Noting that he was "not focussed" on politics, the 53-year-old yoga guru said he would not support or oppose anyone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Talking to reporters at the airport here Tuesday, Ramdev said, "We can't say who will become the next prime minister (after the 2019 general elections)."
"We do not have a political or religious agenda... We want to make a spiritual India and world... Not Hindu India or communal India," he added.
His comments come days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a big blow as it lost power in its earlier ruled Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The Congress won convincingly in Chhattisgarh, less so in Rajasthan and edged out the saffron party in a cliffhanger in Madhya Pradesh.
Referring to the Ayodhya dispute, Ramdev claimed that the BJP would lose trust if the 'Ram Mandir' was not built in Ayodhya now.
The yoga guru was in the state to attend a national executive meeting of Bharat Swabhiman in Rameswaram.
On Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah's remarks on mob violence in Uttar Pradesh, he said, "accusing India of religious intolerance amounts to degrading the country's pride".
The charge that country was religiously intolerant was tantamount to "ungratefulness, disrespect and treason," he added.
Apparently referring to the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr, Shah had said that at many places in the country the "death of a cow is being given more importance than the killing of a policeman".
The veteran actor had also expressed anxiety over the well-being of his children, who he said, have not been brought up as followers of any particular religion.
The violence, which occurred earlier this month over an incident of alleged cow slaughter, had claimed two lives, including that of a police inspector.
Later talking to reporters in Rameswaram, Ramdev said he was neither against any political party nor supporting any political party.
He said the three-day yoga programme being organised herefrom tomorrow was an effort to make "a prosperous and spiritually rich India."
Similar Yoga programmes were being held through out the world by their organisation.
Around 5,000 participants from across the country would participated in the programme, he said adding it was "non- political".
"Yoga is for people of all the religion. It is purely a spiritual programme... it is a scientific way of living," he added.
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Nashik court sends ‘godman’ Kharat to 3-day police custody in 7th sexual exploitation case
Nashik (PTI): A court in Maharashtra's Nashik has remanded self-styled astrologer-cum-godman Ashok Kharat to police custody till April 29 in the seventh case of sexual exploitation registered against him.
Kharat, a former Merchant Navy officer arrested on March 18, is accused of sexually exploiting several women and indulging in large-scale financial fraud by claiming to have divine powers and knowledge of black magic.
In the seventh case, Kharat sexually exploited a married woman who had approached him in search of solutions to her family problems.
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The accused allegedly gave the woman something to drink, sexually assaulted her while her husband sat outside his office and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is probing into 12 cases of sexual exploitation and financial fraud registered against Kharat in Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts, on Sunday filed a request application in the court demanding his custody in the seventh case.
Kharat was produced in court for a virtual hearing in the seventh case on Monday.
The prosecution demanded six-day police custody for Kharat, citing the discovery of a locker in Kharat's house during the investigation, from which the police recovered two blank cheques and other documents, all of which have to be probed.
The court agreed to the prosecution's demand and remanded Kharat to three-day police custody till April 29 in the case.
Kharat has been at the centre of a political firestorm, as he was well-connected, and photographs of him with political leaders and other important members of society have been surfacing in mainstream and social media since his arrest.
