Swami Ramdev vowed to start his hunger strike on Saturday in front of tens of thousands supporters in a huge tent erected in the Indian capital to press the Congress government to accede to his hardline anti-graft proposals.[break]
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent two ministers to hold talks with the guru on Friday in a luxury hotel and wrote personally to the man known to millions as "Baba" in an effort to get him to abandon the fast.
But the ministers failed to persuade the maverick guru to call off his protest.
"I will go on my fast... for the sake of India," said Ramdev after the four-hour meeting with the ministers.
Appearing in his trademark saffron robes open at the chest, he vowed to continue "till our demands are met completely".
"All castes, all types of people are taking part together in this movement," he shouted to applause from the crowd, some of whom demonstrated yoga poses in the carpeted tent set up in a public park often used for political rallies.
His main request is that Singh´s administration forcibly repatriate so-called "black money", cash in foreign bank accounts suspected of being used for bribes or other illegal transactions.
"After all this money is brought back, no one will be hungry, uneducated, unemployed," he said on Friday.
His other proposals to combat graft include introducing the death penalty for corrupt officials and withdrawing large-denomination 500-rupee ($10) and 1,000-rupee bank notes, which he says are used for illicit transactions.
The strict vegetarian, famous for his poses and breathing exercises as well as a stomach-rolling move that is popular with fans, has also called for any bank that operates in a tax haven to be banned from India.
Meanwhile, senior Indian cabinet minister Kapil Sibal, who led the talks with the guru, said the government "had a constructive dialogue on the issues. We are very happy with the progress."
But "we cannot expect that these issues can be resolved today because they have long-term implications", Sibal told reporters.
The standoff is front-page news, with The Indian Express headlining: "To prevent the fast, government works hard on Baba menu", adding that ministers were preparing a last-ditch response to Ramdev´s "bewildering" demands.
Anger about corruption has been at fever pitch in India for the last year after a series of scandals involving the government and the ruling Congress party, notably a $39-billion telecom scam that saw a minister arrested.
Ramdev, a bearded nationalist and strict social conservative, has tapped this groundswell of discontent to launch his campaign and he has strong support from right-wing Hindu groups and his following of millions.
Commentators and some inside the ruling Congress party have questioned the government´s dealings with Ramdev, criticising Singh´s willingness to appease an eccentric figure with views outside the political mainstream.
Ramdev is anti-gay, against modern medicine and claims to be able to cure cancer and AIDS through yoga and his natural therapies, which are a key source of his vast income.
Others say he and another famous social activist, 73-year-old Anna Hazare, who fasted for 98 hours in April demanding a tough anti-corruption law, are holding India´s democracy to ransom with no mandate from the people.
"This is an exciting moment in India´s history, when the soul of its people, long suffering from corruption, is finding vibrant utterance," The Times of India said in an editorial.
"Yet, as the chanting grows impassioned, notes of caution must also be sounded."
Ramdev´s trust, based in the northern Indian hilltown of Haridwar in the foothills of the Himalayas, has declared total revenues since 1995 of 11 billion rupees ($245 million).
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