Jhansi, UP, Sept 20: Yoga guru Swami Ramdev launched his Bharat Swabhiman Yatra against black money and corruption here today by saying that he was not in any competition with Anna Hazare.
"We are not in any competition with Annaji. Both of us are fighting on the same issue : corruption, so where is the question of competition?", said Swami Ramdev.
Accompanied by his controversial aide Acharya Balkrishna, who is being probed by CBI for producing forged education documents while applying for a passport, Swami Ramdev claimed that Balkrishna was innocent and he was being wrongly framed.
"The government wants to muzzle our voice. That's why it is resorting to coercive methods", said Ramdev while taking out a procession from Siddheshwar temple here.
Earlier, he laid wreaths at the samadhi of Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi, did a 'parikrama' and vowed to work for the return of ill-gotten black money stashed away in offshore banks.
"Rani Laxmibai launched her fight for Independence in 1857 from here, and I am launching my fight for return of black money from here", said the yoga guru.
Ramdev's Swabhiman yatra will go through three states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab in the first phase.
The yatra in UP from Jhansi will end in Farrukhabad on October 3. In Uttarakhand, he will resume his yatra from October 7.
Ramdev said, he would continue to teach yoga and spread the message for bringing back black money from foreign banks. Rs 400 lakh crores black money is lying stashed in foreign banks, he alleged.
The yoga guru ruled out any political ambition. "We never had any political aim in the beginning nor do we have now. I don't need character certificates from political parties. By the way, political parties hardly have any character left", he said.
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