By Dr Olav Albuquerque
BABA Ramdev has a link with Goa because Chief Minister Pramod Sawant did some yoga asanas with him on Miramar beach and also promised the Yoga guru all help to set up a wellness centre which will teach yoga in this tiny state.
This is why the contempt case against Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev, who made fake claims of his products being able to cure Covid-19 apart from other incurable ailments, is important. Baba Ramdev’s is a sample case of deliberately flouting the Supreme Court orders to fool the gullible public through fraudulent advertisements.
However, Justice Hima Kohli, who spoke to the alleged contemnor-Guru in chaste Hindi inside the courtroom, told him she was aware of the good work he was doing. But his second unconditional apology to the apex court was rejected on April 10 with the two-judge bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah saying he was not innocent.
WEALTHY YOGA GURU
THE Uttarakhand administration was also pulled up proving that the apex court will not allow gurus such as Baba Ramdev to make crores of rupees by destroying the people’s health, by making bogus claims of curing anything and everything through yoga, coupled with the Baba’s lotions and potions.
The apex court had observed that Patanjali’s misleading advertisements claiming to cure everything from diabetes, obesity to liver dysfunction, and even COVID-19 during the pandemic were “deliberate and willful violations” of the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act of 1954 and its rules.
Baba Ramdev could not have continued to publish his fraudulent advertisements without the Uttarakhand and Union government supporting him, which is why the Supreme Court’s ultimate decision to sentence Ramdev or drop the issue after finally accepting an apology will prove whether the Supreme Court is really supreme.
Although he does not own any stake in Patanjali Ayurved Ltd, his partner, Acharya Balkrishna, is reportedly worth $ 1.5 billion through selling lotions, potions and other so-called medicines which claim to cure anything and everything from Covid-19 to HIV and cancer.
AYUSH SET-UP
THE setting up of the AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy) ministry itself proves these alternate medicine streams cannot replace Allopathy which Baba Ramdev has continuously ridiculed in his attempt to boost sales of his fake lotions and potions.
This is why the apex court has rightly dismissed Ramdev’s insincere apologies given to escape being sent to jail because Ramdev and his accomplice, Acharya Balkrishna, are influential yoga exponents-cum-businessmen who earn crores through peddling yoga which should be taught free-of-cost.
For those who came in late on November 21, 2023 the Supreme Court warned Patanjali Ayurved that it would levy an Rs1 crore penalty for each false claim in its advertisements. The court issued its judgment in response to petitions filed by various state units of the Indian Medical Association regarding Patanjali Ayurved’s advertisement titled “Misconceptions spread by allopathy: Save yourself and the country from the misconceptions spread by pharma and the medical industry.”
PATANJALI ADVERTISING
THESE advertisements were published on July 10, 2022. Patanjali Ayurved was charged with conducting a “smear campaign” and making false claims against allopathy. The court directed the company to stop making false claims through its fraudulent advertisements.
On February 27, 2024 the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice against Patanjali Ayurved and its Managing Director “Acharya” Balkrishna for advertising its products, which violated the Drugs & Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and its Rules.
Later, on March 19, 2024 the Supreme Court asked why contempt proceedings should not be started against Baba Ramdev in the Patanjali advertising case. The court also directed Ramdev and Balkrishna to appear in person before the court. On April 10, 2024 the Supreme Court refused to accept an unconditional apology from Baba Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna, saying that Ramdev’s violations of the undertaking to the court were deliberate and wilful.
Baba Ramdev is allegedly close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and claims it was due to his yogic practice that he recovered from a paralytic stroke, which incapacitated the left side of his body in early childhood. His parents advanced his marketing strategy by claiming that after he was born on December 25, 1965 some saints visited his village to recite the messages of Sant Paramhansa, another yoga Guru.
During a TV reality show, Baba Ramdev claimed he used second-hand books to study till standard eight and always topped his class which is impossible to verify. He disclosed he never marked these second-hand books which he sold to his juniors at a price higher than what he bought. This principle has stood him in good stead because he peddles potions and lotions by claiming they can cure anything from diabetes to cancer and HIV.
CAN CURE ANYTHING!
BABA Ramdev claims he met one Acharya Balkrishna in the 1990s at the Tripura Yoga Ashram in Kankhal, Haridwar and they both went to the Himalayas where Ramdev studied yoga and Balakrishna studied Ayurveda. In 1996, Ramdev set up the Divya Yog Mandir Trust, which publishes books on yoga and Ayurveda, apart from other disciplines. Like his other tall claims, these too are impossible to verify.
This is why Goans who are sussegad and gullible need to take all their governments with a lot of salt and vinegar because godmen-turned-conmen like Asaram Bapu and Baba Ramdev have parasitic relationships with all state governments to teach yoga and earn crores of rupees in revenue — so the ministers are happy and so are the godmen.
