Everyone knows about Ramdev’s Sanghi leanings. Everyone knows that there is a corporate sitting inside his saffron robe. Ramdev is both an example of the Sangh-BJP’s Hindutva and corporate alliance politics and its product too. People have seen this Ramdev running away in fear in salwar-kurta. This dress is generally considered to be the dress of Muslims. It can be said that it was the Muslim dress that saved Ramdev’s cowardly Hindutva. But this same Ramdev has today become an expert in spreading hatred and fear about Islam and Muslims.
His latest statement is: “There is a company in the name of Sharbat, which gives Sharbat, but with the money it gets from Sharbat, it builds madrasas and mosques. If you drink that Sharbat, then mosques and madrasas will be built and if you drink Patanjali Sharbat, then Gurukul will be built, Acharya Kulam will be built, Patanjali University and Indian Education Board will progress. That is why I say this is Sharbat Jihad. Just like love jihad, vote jihad is going on, Sharbat Jihad is also going on.”
This statement of Ramdev is floating in the form of a video on social media. In this statement, he is referring to Rooh Afza, but he is not challenging its quality. It is a non-alcoholic drink, which was prepared by Hakim Hafiz Abdul Majeed in Ghaziabad in 1906 under British India. He was an expert in Unani medicines and with the help of some Unani herbs and syrup, he prepared a solution (sharbat) which gave a lot of relief to people from the heat in summer. But the main ingredient of this Sharbat was rose. Now it is being manufactured by Hamdard Pharmaceutical, which is a well-known company today. Information from its bottle shows that today it is being made from 8 types of herbs and extracts of 8 types of fruits and vegetables. During its 115 years journey, its quality has not been affected yet. A counterfeit product called Dil Afza was launched in the market parallel to Rooh Afza, the sale of which was banned by the Delhi High Court, which was later confirmed by the Supreme Court.
Secondly, there is no official report about Rooh Afza that its manufacturers have built a mosque or madrasa from the income from its sale, which Ramdev is alleging. He should have also presented proof of his allegation. According to the information available publicly, Hamdard, the company that manufactures this drink, is run by a non-profit trust. It adopts a secular stance, as it organizes celebrations on both Holi and Eid. In the year 2008, this company made Juhi Chawla its brand ambassador. If its stance was Islam-based, it would never have made Juhi Chawla its brand ambassador.
Thirdly, Ramdev is clearly saying that the income from his Sharbat will be used to promote the education that the Sanghi gang wants to promote, and of course, this education will be far from creating a scientific mindset and will be based on Varnashram. Such education goes against the basic values of the Constitution and Ramdev is going to use his profits to dig out the roots of secularism and constitutional values of this country.
Now let us talk about Ramdev’s Patanjali. This company was started in 2006 by Ramdev and his disciple Balkrishna and today this company manufactures and sells almost all products from toothpaste to skin care and from fever to typhoid and today this company is worth more than Rs 10,000 crore. The growth story of Patanjali is the story of Ramdev’s transformation from promoting yoga on TV to a corporate. All the elements of deceit, fraud and cheating of robber and parasitic capitalism are present in this transformation.
This story was originally published in countercurrents.org. Read the full story here.