The news that Baba Ramdev evades tax is simply shameful, although he has denied such tax evasion accusations. Last year, the former foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is now the Honourable President of India, went to accord a red carpet welcome to Baba Ramdev at the airport. But the mission was a failure and after that the harassment started, alleged Ramdev and his men. A complaint received by Swami Karamveer of Maharshi Patanjali Foundation, Lonavala about the tax defalcations has been forwarded by the DGCET to the tax departments in Mumbai, New Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Raipur and Dehradun.

All these accusations blackened the white face of the anti- corruption crusader. True, that the UPA government remained silent in the past. But if the notices served for tax evasion contain truth, Baba Ramdev will forfeit his right to cry loud against corruption. This is a table turned down by the UPA against the man who is campaigning against the corruption in the UPA government. CNN- IBN has accessed an excise intelligence report that exposed how Baba has failed to pay taxes. Ramdev rubbished tax charges and says that such complaints are only the outcome of revenge of the UPA II.

It was a custom of Indian society that the spiritual leaders should restrict themselves to spiritual matters and not meddle in political affairs. Most political leaders, bureaucrats and industrialists deposit their “unaccounted wealth” in religious centres to evade tax. Religious institutions should review whether the cash contributions by the politicians were honest or earned through corrupt practices. If it is illegal, their contributions should be rejected. All religious institutions, including mandirs, masjids and churches should declare their assets to the government.

Religious centres have now come under IT scanner, and they should pay tax to the government. Religious centres should be transparent and should come forward and declare their assets in detail regarding the income and expenditure during the financial year and the source of money. All the income generated through various sources in religious centres should be audited. It is expected that  Anna Hazare or Ramdev will not go against these proposals, if they claim to be honest. Tax evasion is a crime. There are many in the country who after the joint movement of Ramdev and Anna Hazare against corruption and black money have started wild gossips about the possibility of either of these two persons becoming Prime Minister in near future. It is expected that they should come out clean in financial matters and headlines of newspapers or online portals should not scream unkindly that Baba Ramdev is not honest or Baba Ramdev evades tax.