Swami Ramdev : Whistleblower, villain, or victim?

January 5, 2006

Dear List, We live in a queer world. Here no issue stands on its own but entagles itself with myriad other interests floating around to emerge in a totally different avatar. Had the Swami been targetted by a non political person the media may not have picked it up, nor would political parties gunned for him. The issue would have had a locus standi of its own instead of being seen in the light of CITU politics, telephone tapping drama, power games, MNC shenanigans, inter disciplinary rivalry, and the battle of ancient values versus modern thought. Yesterday the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh came out strongly in favour of the Swami but also blamed the media for "forcing" Ms Karat to take up the issue!! Ms Karat's support on the phone tapping issue is very vital for him. The Union Health Minister clarified that the samples did contain animal tissue but mercifully also pointed out that he was not sure

that the samples belonged to the Divya Yoga Pharmacy as the labels said they were from one Divya Pharmacy. The communist party solidly backed Ms Karat but the issue was obviously the CITU affiliations of the sacked employees of Swami Ramdev's pharmacy. The media was divided on the issue. While some channels backed the Swami to the hilt, some hanged him while the jury was still out on the issue. A particular channel went to the extent of denouncing the "holy" status of the Swami calling him an unholy godman. Where does God come into the picture here? Another channel also took up the issue of heavy metal "contamination" in ayurvedic medicines trying to score a brownie point over the others. Unfortunately the media could not get a single patient to testify against the Swami. They were all equivocal in their support claiming that Ramdevji had made a significant contribution to their recovery. Only one channel took the trouble of flashing the views of

an ayurvedic doctor for a few seconds who said that ayurvedic medicines were perfectly safe if taken under medical supervision. The question is why does the Swami evoke such diverse reactions? No one can really doubt his intentions to contribute towards health. It is his tirade against MNC's and drug majors that have singled him out for defamation. But even more, many are apprehensive of his growing clout which may lead the "gullible" public to act as per his exhortions and ignore the wisdom offered by our politicians. Our Swami Ramdev may turn out to be a "Sarkar". Therefore he has to be cut down to size. Like the story of Prakash Jha's "Apaharan", it is important to destroy his "soch" (public image) before he becomes a larger threat. Our politics has indeed come of age. Even Chanakya would not have done better. Regards, Jagannath.

“New opinions often appear first as jokes and fancies, then as blasphemies and treason, then as questions open to discussion, and finally as established truths.” – George Bernard Shaw.

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