India yoga guru launches anti-graft fast

NEW DELHI — India's most celebrated yoga guru has begun a "fast unto death" in a bid to force the government to accept his hardline anti-corruption measures.Swami Baba Ramdev decided to go ahead with his hunger strike after cabinet ministers dispatched by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh failed in a last-ditch meeting on Friday to persuade the maverick guru to call off his protest.The saffron-robed swami, who has a huge television following for his daily yoga show, began his protest early in the morning after a two-hour yoga practice with his followers that started before dawn, local media reported.He declared to cheering supporters late Friday that he was staging the hunger strike "for the sake of India".Thousands of people had already gathered in New Delhi's sweltering summer heat by Friday to watch Ramdev begin his fast at a sprawling site where a Hindu festival marking the triumph of good over evil is celebrated every year.The guru, who has wide support from right-wing Hindu groups, has called for Singh's administration to repatriate so-called "black money" -- cash stashed in foreign accounts suspected of being used for bribes and illegal transactions."After all this money is brought back, no one will be hungry, uneducated, unemployed," he said.The bearded guru, a strict social conservative who claims he can "cure" homosexuality, cancer and AIDS through yoga and other alternative therapies, has also called for the death penalty for corrupt government officials."The corrupt politicians" have gained vast sums "from the people's hard earned money," said Ramdev, who has declared he would "fast unto death" to achieve his goals."Corrupt people have no religion. All corrupt ministers should be given the death sentence," he said.The Congress government, which has been buffeted by a slew of graft scandals, issued a late night statement assuring Ramdev and his followers that the maximum penalty for corrupt officials would be "substantially increased".It also promised speedy trials for people accused of corruption

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