India's most popular guru is about to launch a hunger strike against corruption

It is not every day that the finance minister of Asia's third largest economy rushes to the New Delhi airport to welcome a personality, however prominent. Yet that is what happened today when Pranab Mukherjee, head of the most important department of the Singh government, rushed to Indira Gandhi International (along with three other ministers) to welcome Baba Ramdev, the hugely popular yoga guru. Behind the diligence of Mukherjee and colleagues, prodded to do so apparently by the prime minister himself, there are no spiritual reasons, but the hope of defusing a potentially extremely dangerous political bomb. Ramdev, who is one of India's best-loved personalities, watched on TV every morning by 30 million people, has been flirting with the idea of ​​going into politics for some time now and has made up his mind to launch a campaign against corruption. demanding that the huge Indian capital hidden in Swiss banks be returned home. If his requests are not accepted, he will begin a hunger strike on 4 June together, he said today after meeting Mukherjee, "with 10 million other people". The initiative could have devastating consequences not only on his small physique, but also on the executive's popularity. According to many observers, the government of Manmohan Singh is not doing enough to fight the cancer of corruption that has lurks in Indian democracy for decades and which in recent years, thanks to the enormous opportunities generated by the economic boom, seems to have grown dramatically.