Ramdev's life itself is like a movie script. Known as Rama Krishna Yadav, he was born in Haryana in 1953. He overcame his childhood paralysis through yoga. He joined a gurukul in Haryana and started offering free yoga classes. Soon he became a household name all over India and millions of people began to believe in the power of yoga. In the last few years, his yoga empire grew very big with at least a dozen chief ministers supporting him to spread the message. He even had an audience with the Queen of England when he visited London. Those who know him are not surprised at his political ambitions.

The question is about the success of his new political venture. Has he assessed his strengths and weaknesses? Is he confident that he would achieve the same success as he had done in the field of yoga? Ramdev is not the only yoga guru who is fascinated by politics. Old timers recall the efforts of Karpatri Maharaj who floated Mohe Ram Rajya Parishad and contested the first Lok Sabha polls in 1952. To his credit his party won three seats but his party faded away soon. Then there were others like Dhirendra Brahmachari, who also failed. What makes Baba Ramdev think that he will succeed where others had failed?

Baba Ramdev has many plus points. He has a huge following. He has a multi crore-yoga empire, which is spreading far and wide. He has 6000 people working for his business. More money is pouring in from his disciples. He has used the media, particularly the TV channels to his advantage in popularising yoga. His message is for all. He readily accepted a Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind invitation to visit Deoband and created a stir by addressing thousands of Imams and clerics to spread the message of yoga. He has no baggage, political or otherwise. He has no godfather and no coterie as of now. His intention seems to be good as he is only talking about building a corruption-free India, ensuring farmer's welfare and welfare of the people. He has no caste or communal advantage. He is starting with a clean slate and promising the moon to the public. In short, he has the potential to succeed but there is a big if whether he will.

His detractors prophesy that Ramdev may come to know very soon politics is quite different from yoga and he is a novice. First of all, there are already too many political parties in India, which fragment the polity. Ramdev's party may only add to this confusion. It is not clear what is the ideology of the party or what it wants to do except of course what Baba claims that it will cleanse politics and root out corruption. These are indeed very big challenges for an infant party.

Second, why does Baba Ramdev believe that all his VVIP disciples like the Haryana chief minister or Uttarakhand chief minister or other ministers from the states as well as Centre will share the dais with him when he wants to talk politics to his audience? Till now it was a different story, as they did not mind being seen with him when he was only the yoga guru.

Third, Swabhiman party will have to be ready to fight elections and it is not that easy to sustain until then and find 543 candidates by 2014. Ask UP chief minister Mayawati. She will tell him how difficult it was for her to launch her party in the southern states and outside U.P. Moreover, although he is very popular in the Northern states, it is not the same in the south where there are competitors even in Yoga.

Fourth, Ramdev has his own share of controversies. In 2006 CPI-M leader Brinda Karat alleged that Ramdev's Divya Yoga Mandir Trust Pharmacy was using animal bones in its medicines. Although Ramdev gained from this controversy, it created a stir. In 2009, Ramdev opposed homosexuality after the Delhi High court passed order decriminalizing it. His claims that Aids and cancer could be cured through yoga also brought him into focus.

Fifth, he has not thought of an emotive issue, which alone will bind a political party. Talking about corruption, etc may or may not get him votes.

Lastly he has to separate his yoga business from his politics, which will be difficult.

Should he confine himself to endorsing good candidates during elections rather than plunging into politics? Will he not be able to influence voters as a yoga guru rather than as a political leader? Although most of the national parties and the regional parties like the BSP and NCP pooh pooh his idea, they are also not very sure about its impact on the people. They are quite confident that the political support he is getting from various states ruled by different parties will wither away once he becomes a politician.

Ramdev has a huge task before him if he is serious about turning into a politician. The most difficult thing is to fight the system, which has become corrupt from top to bottom. Moreover, who are the people on whom he can depend upon to build the party? Even if he manages to get some seats in the coming elections, his party may not emerge as the single largest party to form the government. With his members, he also will have to plunge into the political system and bargain for the best terms to join a coalition. Is the Yoga guru ready for that? (IPA Service)