New Delhi: Baba Ramdev’s remarks on allopathic medicines is not the first time that the yoga guru has courted controversy. In fact, he seems to have a penchant for staying in the news by making statements that turn into controversies.
Let’s go down memory lane with some of them:
June 2020: He claimed to have found a COVID-19 vaccine called Coronil. An FIR was lodged in Jaipur against him and four others for allegedly endangering lives of common people by making this claim.
May 2019: He said that in order to contain population growth, the government should enact a law whereby third child should not be allowed to vote and enjoy facilities provided by the government. The yoga guru also called for a ban on the manufacturing, sale, and purchase of liquor across India. He also demanded a full ban on cow slaughter saying that it was the only way out to reduce the conflict between cow smugglers and “gau rakshak” (cow protectors).
March 2019: He called for a boycott of Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) after the firm received flak for its advertisement for tea brand Brooke Bond Red Label, which described the world’s largest gathering on Kumbh Mela as a “place where old people get abandoned”. Ramdev in a tweet said, “For them everything, every emotion is just a commodity. For us parents are next to Gods.” Ramdev drew parallel with East India Company and called for a complete boycott of the foreign company for hurting Hindu sentiments.
April 2016: He said that he would have beheaded lakhs of people for not chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogan. A case was registered against him in Hyderabad on a complaint by a medical college student. The student alleged in the complaint that he had seen a video clip on YouTube where Ramdev threatens members of a particular community.
September 2012: He was in trouble following a complaint showing alleged irregularities in the labelling of some of the food products marketed by his Divya Yog Mandir Trust. Irregularities were found in labelling of six products – salt, mustard oil, honey, black pepper, pineapple jam and Arogya Besan.
November 2020: He was in the news for Ruchi Soya’s unprecedented growth and its FPO. Ramdev said he has saved a company that was declared an NPA and prevented it from going bankrupt.
