After 'azaadi' chants, Jawaharlal Nehru Univeristy (JNU) is getting ready to breathe in, breathe out. Baba Ramdev has planned a yoga camp on the campus.

"That is what babaji has expressed. He said we must organise a camp or shivir in JNU to teach students yoga there, to give them a right direction, healthy lifestyle and imbue positivity in their thoughts. He said that he will go to the JNU and teach yoga, though a concrete plan has not been chalked out right now," said SK Tijarawala, the chief spokesperson of Baba Ramdev.

"We have been teaching yoga to students, children and elderly and people from all walks of life, for example, we also go to jails. We are taking yoga to all sections of the society."

In December last year, a word had spread that Ramdev would speak at an academic convention in the university on Vedanta and Ayurveda, evoking strong reactions from a section of teachers and the students' union (JNUSU). The yoga guru never made it to the university. The convention had been organised by the university's Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies (SCSS) in collaboration with the Institute of Advanced Sciences, Dartmouth, United States, and the Centre for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

"Last time there was confusion. There was a programme about which we had not given our confirmation. Had we given confirmation, we surely would have gone there. We were ourselves shocked to hear from media reports that there was a controversy," Tijarawala said.

While the Left-dominated JNUSU told Mail Today that it had no problems with Ramdev teaching yoga. The ABVP welcomed the stand of the rest of the union and called it a true coming of democracy to the campus, referring to the aftermath of the February 9 Afzal Guru row.

"The last time he was called as a keynote speaker at a function and there were protests claiming that he was not qualified to speak. However, if he comes in his individual capacity as a yoga guru, we do not have a problem. We have never opposed to such things. Subramanian Swamy keeps coming to address ABVP programmes. There was no blanket opposition even the last time when Ramdev wanted to come," said JNUSU vice-president Shehla Rashid.

JNUSU joint secretary, the lone Right-wing voice in the students' body, Saurabh Sharma hailed Ramdev's acceptance as an evidence of the ideological shift on the campus. "Democracy has finally arrived in JNU after the unfortunate celebration of Afzal Guru and Maqbool Bhat on February 9 when anti-India slogans were raised. The stand taken by the leftist block of the union is indicative of a paradigm shift on the campus. Earlier, these people protested against Baba Ramdev when they heard he was coming to address a seminar. Indian Constitution has finally won in JNU," said Sharma.

The JNU Teachers' Association (JNUTA) also did not sound very keen to oppose the plan. "They have to seek permission from the administration first, and then we do not have any problem. Earlier too, Ramdev had to come to the Sanskrit centre for some academic session. We heard in press that he had only cancelled it," said president JNUTA Ajay Patnaik. Another functionary of the JNUTA quipped at the proposal saying yoga was already taught on the campus stadium and if Ramdev was so keen to teach JNU students and teachers, he might as well consider coming every day in the morning. "He is welcome to come and teach. In fact, I invite him to come and teach every day," said the teacher.

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