Keeping his date with followers, yoga teacher Ramdev today held a rally at Solan and said he will fight the legal battle to get back possession of the land given to his trust by the previous BJP government.
In spite of the controversy surrounding the cancellation of land lease, the yoga teacher went ahead with his scheduled visit and addressed a rally here.
On February 19, the state government had cancelled lease of the land. And on February 22, the Himachal authorities, in a swift but peaceful move, took over the land given to the Ramdev's trust Patanjali Yogpeeth.
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Heavy overnight rains also failed to deter Ramdev from addressing the rally but the venue had to be changed from Thodo ground (which was soaked with water) to Sanatan Dharamsabha hall.
Pinning all his hopes on the judiciary to see his plan for setting-up a yogapeeth complex at Sadhupul in Himachal Pradesh coming through, Ramdev said that the land was given to him on lease after following all the procedurs but the government has cancelled the lease and taken possession of the land even without serving a notice.
The government should have followed the due process of law for cancelling the lease but it was under pressure from centre, he alleged.
Asking the government to name any NGO in the state which has invested Rs 11-crore on the project, he said that the project was aimed at promotion of Ayurveda and Yoga and thousands of local youth would have got employment.
He claimed that as per the studies conducted by various economic rating bodies, the percentage of black money in GDP was increasing and said that if entire black money was brought back to the country, India would become a very prosperous country.
Today, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has asked the government to maintain status quo on the matter and sought its response on the issue.