Ramdev

Patanjali Ayurved is a consumer packaged goods company, based in Haridwar, that was started by Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006.[25] According to a company official, sales in early March 2016 were ₹45 billion (US$630 million) with monthly sales of ₹5 billion (US$70 million)–₹5.5 billion (US$77 million).[26] Acharya Balkrishna remains the CEO of Patanjali Ayurved with 95% shareholding and supervising its day-to-day activities, while Ramdev remains the face of the company and makes most of the business decisions.[27]

The company has also been accused of misleading advertisements about its products and flimsy testing before being launched to market.[28] Some products like amla juice,[29][30] and ayurvedic medicines [31] have been banned from sales due to poor quality. Patanjali has also been surrounded in controversies regarding working conditions where Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna are treated at gurus whose feet must be touched each time they enter an area. Workers are paid a salary of just 6000 INR per month while working in 12 hour shifts for 6 days a week.[30] They are also discouraged to ask for a raise as working at factory is considered "seva" (service) to the cause.

In June 2020, Patanjali Ayurved announced a drug named Coronil for COVID-19 treatment, Ramdev claimed in June that Coronil had cured Covid-19 patients. The Indian government has allowed Patanjali Ayurved to market Coronil as an immunity booster but not a cure.[32] The Government of Maharashtra has banned the sale of Coronil in the state. Law suits were filed in Bihar and Rajasthan against Ramdev, Balkrishna, and others, accusing them of cheating and selling fake medicines.[33][34] The Madras High Court has fined the company ₹1,000,000 (US$14,000) for its false claims on the drug. Patanjali has withdrawn the claim of Coronil being a cure for Covid-19. The UK drug regulator has threatened action if the unauthorized products were sold in the UK market.[32]

A view of Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar (Uttarakhand) India

Patanjali Yogpeeth is an institute founded for the promotion and practice of Yoga and Ayurveda. It has two Indian campuses, Patanjali Yogpeeth I and Patanjali Yogpeeth II in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Other locations include UK, US, Nepal, Canada and Mauritius.[35] Ramdev is the Vice-Chancellor of the Patanjali Yogapeeth.[36] Ramdev established the Patanjali Yog Peeth UK Trust in 2006, with the aim of promoting yoga in the UK. To extend Patanjali Yogpeeth, he also acquired the Scottish island of Little Cumbrae.[37][38]

In 2017, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) through its Delhi bench gave tax exempt status to Patanjali Yogpeeth.[39]

In 2010, Ramdev announced plans to form a political party called Bharat Swabhiman India Pride. He said that it would contest every seat in the next national elections.[40] A year later, he stated that, instead of forming a political party, he would influence politics by encouraging a groundswell of popular reaction.[41] In 2014, Ramdev announced that Bharat Swabhiman intended to contest some constituencies in the general election of that year and to form alliances with some other parties. It was at this time that he voiced his support for Narendra Modi to become the next Prime Minister of India.[42] His attempts to run yoga camps during that election campaign, allegedly to gain support for Modi, were stymied by the Election Commission of India (ECI), who determined that they were politically motivated.[43] The ECI had also tried to control his use of camps in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh state elections of 2013.[44][45]

Ramdev founded an organisation called the Bharat Swabhiman Trust in 2009, in part, to support his political activities.[46] The financial arrangements of this and his two other trusts, the Divya Yog and Patanjali Yogpeeth, came under ECI scrutiny during the 2014 elections because of a complaint that they were being used to fund the campaigns of some political parties.[47]

In April 2011, Ramdev called on the government to add punitive powers to the Jan Lokpal Bill, a bill to appoint an independent body that would investigate alleged government corruption.[48] Ramdev announced he would go on an anshan hunger strike at Ramlila Ground in Delhi, on 4 June 2011, to pressure the government into rooting out corruption and repatriating black money.[49] A week before the scheduled fast, the government set up a committee, headed by the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, to suggest steps to curb black money and its transfer abroad.[50]

When Ramdev arrived at Delhi airport on 1 June, four government ministers met him and tried to persuade him to call off his fast by telling him of the government's initiative on corruption.[51] Talks continued between the two sides and, on 3 June, both sides claimed that a consensus had been reached. However, in the evening, Ramdev announced that he would carry on with his hunger strike.[52]

On the morning of 4 June, 65,000 of his followers gathered at Ramlila Ground.[53] By noon, queues extending up to 3 km (1.9 mi) were chanting Vande Mataram a patriotic call from the Indian independence movement. In the evening, government minister Kapil Sibbal publicized a letter from Ramdev's camp stating that the hunger strike would be called off if the government honoured its commitments. Ramdev took it as a betrayal by the government and hardened his position.[52]

Shortly before midnight, a Delhi police spokesman announced that permission for the gathering had been cancelled because it was for a yoga camp for 5,000, not for 50,000 people for agitation.[54] At midnight, a team of 10,000 Delhi policemen and RAF raided the ground when most of the protesters were sleeping.[55] Tear gas shells and a lathicharge were used, tents were set on fire, and water was thrown over power generators to create complete darkness. Ramdev tried to escape capture by disguising himself as an injured woman but was arrested two hours later.[56][57] He was flown back to his ashram in Haridwar and banned from entering Delhi for 15 days.[58] On reaching Haridwar, Ramdev told reporters that his fast was not over yet and he would continue with his satyagraha civil resistance.[59]

Police reported that 53 citizens and ten police were injured and treated in hospitals.[60][61] There were accusations that women protesters had been badly treated by the police.[62] A senior police officer stated that they were forced to retaliate after Ramdev's supporters started throwing stones and flower pots at them.[63] Police also released CCTV footage to prove that no women were beaten by them.[64] One female protester suffered a spinal injury and later died in hospital from cardiac arrest. In a statement, Ramdev said her sacrifice was an irreparable loss to the whole organization, that her death would not go in vain and that others would continue to fight for a corruption-free India.[65]

Ramdev accused the government of cheating him, and alleged that there was a conspiracy to kill him and that he was threatened during a meeting with senior ministers.[66] All political parties, other than the ruling Congress Party, condemned the police action. Leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP said that the police action had been a shameful chapter in the democracy of this country.[56] BJP leader LK. Advani called it naked fascism.[67]

Ramdev was supported by civil societies as well. Activist Anna Hazare termed the crackdown a strangulation of democracy.[68] He said, There was no firing otherwise the eviction was similar to Jallianwala Bagh massacre.[69] Protests were held in many different parts of the country including Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bangalore, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Jammu and Lucknow[70][71]

Ramdev ended his fast on the ninth day, after being hospitalised two days earlier.[72] His decision to end the protest was praised by politicians from the BJP, Janata Party and Congress Party.[73]

As a part of the "India against corruption" movement, Ramdev launched another indefinite protest on 10 August 2012 against the government's failure to take action against corruption and to bring back black money. He announced that his future strategy depended upon the governmental response to his protest.[74] Ramdev ended the fast at Delhi's Ambedkar Stadium on 14 August 2012, and said he was returning to Haridwar. Seeking the defeat of the Congress Party in 2014, he said, Congress hatao, desh bachao Remove Congress, save the country, adding that except for the Congress Party, all parties were together on the issue of black money.[75]

In March 2005, 113 employees of Divya Yoga Mandir Trust began an agitation for minimum wages and employees's rights such as coverage under the Provident Fund and Employees' State Insurance schemes. A meeting resulted in an agreement between the workers, management and the district administration; management agreed to pay minimum wage and not to initiate disciplinary actions against the protesters and, in turn, the workers agreed that they would restore normalcy at the workplace. However, the Trust refused to take back some of the workers, accusing them of committing sabotage. Their case was taken up by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions CITU, affiliated with the Communist Party of India Marxist CPI(M).[90][91]

Brinda Karat, a senior figure in the CPI(M), took up the cause of the fired protesters. They told her that human bones and animal parts were used in some herbal medicines manufactured by Divya Pharmacy owned by Divya Yog Mandir Trust and provided samples. The samples were tested at government laboratories and the presence of animal materials in the sample was confirmed. However, the source of the samples was disputed, since they had been given to Karat by the protesting workers and not procured by government officials. Karat produced what were claimed to be the prescription and cash receipt obtained from the hospital's medicine counter for the samples provided.[90][91][92] Her remarks drew strong condemnation from several politicians in North India, such as Sharad Pawar, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Narayan Dutt Tiwari.[93] Subsequently, she received a legal notice on the behalf of a BJP leader in Faridabad ordering her to apologize publicly or face legal action.[94]

In April 2020, Ruchi Soya Industries, which was acquired by Patanjali Ayurved in 2019, was revealed to be among the top 50 wilful loan defaulters of India, with a loan of Rs. 2,212 crore written off by the RBI.[95][96][97]

Ramdev's claims about cow urine and cow dung curing diseases have no scientific backing. He also claimed that COVID-19 can be self diagnosed by controlling breathing and that mustard oil kills the virus.[98] He has been criticized for his belief in statements or practices that he claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method, and therefore are categorized as pseudoscience.

In June 2020, Patanjali launched Coronil and Swasari, which they claimed provided an Ayurvedic treatment for the COVID-19.[99] Hours later, the central ministry of AYUSH released a statement asking Ramdev to stop advertising the drug as a cure for COVID-19.[100] The day after the launch, a criminal complaint was filed against Ramdev and his aide Balkrishna in a Muzaffarpur court by social worker Tamanna Hashmi for misleading and putting to risk the lives of a large number of people.[101] Maharashtra minister Anil Deshmukh banned the sale of Coronil in Maharashtra, saying that the state will not allow the sale of 'spurious medicine'.[102][103] Subsequently, Coronil was allowed to be sold after AYUSH Ministry called it an immunity booster drug which can be used for Covid-19 management [104]