New Delhi/Chandigarh, June 5(IANS) Facing criticism for cracking down on Baba Ramdev, the government Sunday said that it was forced to whisk away the yoga guru as he "had gone back on his promise" of calling off his fast, and accused him of rousing passions and acting on the behest of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

 
 Soon after the forced dispersal of Ramdev and thousands of his supporters from the Delhi's Ramlila Ground after midnight Saturday, the government said that Ramdev was given an assurance on his demands against corruption and black money.
 
 "The government told him that anything doable will be done immediately. Anything not doable cannot be done. If despite all assurances, there is government bashing, only to rouse passions, only to spread disaffection among people, then people expect the government to take action," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said in Chandigarh.
 
 He denied that it was a crackdown. "It is no crackdown. You (media) must accept that," Bansal said.
 
 "The government held him (Ramdev) in high respect, the government talked to him, the government tried to make him see reason. These were the initiatives the government took from time to time on these matters," he added.
 
 "The much-larger question before the government was what are the mechanisms that the people of the country must adopt for the resolution of disputes and issues. Are we going to make, by our actions, the parliamentary system irrelevant?
 
 "If you have anything against a parliamentarian or the government, there are legitimate ways of doing it. Not in the garb of doing something, you should try to do something else," Bansal said.
 
 Bansal, along with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Human Resource Minister Kapil Sibal and Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay had met Ramdev at Delhi airport June 1 and held negotiations.
 
 Meanwhile, Sahay told reporters in New Delhi that the police had to whisk away Ramdev because the "Baba had gone back on his promise" to call off the fast Saturday.
 
 He said that the police used "minimum force and maximum restraint in their action". They had used non-lethal methods like water cannons and tear-gas, he claimed.
 
 The action had to be taken as Baba was arousing passions "through his statements from the dais", he added.
 
 Sahay said that the government was committed to unearth black money and ensure severe punishment to those possess ill-gotten wealth.
 
 "There is no dispute over the issue with Baba. We had made it clear," he said.
 
 He said police had removed Ramdev from a volatile situation in Delhi and taken him to his ashram at Haridwar.
 
 "We cannot give the charge of Delhi city to those who threaten" to go on fast till death, Sahay said.
 
 He said the government had been trying its best to address the demands of Ramdev and avoid a confrontation, quoted from Mukherjee's letter to Ramdev on May 29, which said that government was ready to discuss any further issue with him.
 
 "The government has been transparent and sincere in dealing with the issues raised "by Ramdev regarding declaration of black money as a national asset, confiscation of ill-gotten wealth and punishing those who possess illegal wealth," he added.
 
 In New Delhi, a combative Sibal also called Ramdev a face of the RSS. "Today it has become clear that he is another face of the RSS," he said.
 
 He said Ramdev had told the government he would only hold a yoga camp for about 5,000 people at the Ramlila ground. "How did he collect 50,000 people," the minister asked.
 
 Sibal said the government was confident of handling any situation following Ramdev's externment from Delhi
 
 "What we have done is right," he told reporters.