Baba Ramdev’s Refusal of Minister’s Position
May 5, 2015
It may sound blasphemous but I cannot resist myself from drawing a comparison between our Television-Age saint Baba Ramdev and the great sage of ancient India Vishwamitra.
Ramdev’s TRPs keep soaring high every time he chants some mantras (largely political in spirit). He is media savvy, makes political statements, runs businesses and simultaneously claims to be an ascetic. He is both popular and controversial. He wields considerable political clout and has no compunction in even using private jets.
Obviously, Ramdev’s is a curious story of a saint; however, can he really be called a true torchbearer of the rich tradition of our ancient rishis? Hence, this comparison!
Like Vishwamitra, Ramdev is also a Kshatriya, actually a Yaduvanshi Kshatriya. However, unlike Vishwamitra, who was born to be a king, Ramdev was born poor. However, Ramdev did succeed in bridging this economic divide between him and Vishwamitra. Ramdev, with his yoga skills and acute political sense, created a business empire for himself worth millions, only to claim that he has renounced it all, what if he has still remained at the helm of his empire!
Vishwamitra was born to be a king and he became a king before renouncing earthly pleasure to attain larger glory as a saint. Ramdev, however, first became a saint and thereafter accumulated wealth that he claims not to be beneficiary of.
Millennia ago, Vishwamitra had relinquished his throne to become a saint! Consider that only the other day, Ramdev stressed that he was a ‘sadhu…a fakir’ when he denounced the cabinet minister’s position in the land of Bhagavad Gita – Haryana!
For a larger part of his life as a saint, Vishwamitra, though he strived hard to get past it, was considered a ‘Rajarshi’ – a king who became a sage. (It was only after undergoing intense meditation and severe asceticism, Vishwamitra could become a ‘Brahmarshi’ – the highest class of rishis.)
Doesn’t Ramdev revel in his role of a self acclaimed ‘Rajarshi’ – a royal sage? He had actively canvassed for Narendra Modi in the last general elections and taken credit for the elevation of Modi as the country’s prime minister. Mark his statement that he made after grandiosely refusing the cabinet minister’s status accorded to him by Haryana, where Modi’s party is at the helm: “Now, that the PM is ours, the entire Cabinet is ours, the Haryana CM is ours and his Cabinet is ours, so let baba remain a baba … I want to serve you like this only (by remaining a baba)…”
At hindsight, why should the Baba climb down to a status of just a cabinet minister of a small state like Haryana, when he sees himself as the kingmaker – a ‘Rajarshi’? After all, hadn’t he already ‘obliged’ the Haryana government by accepting its earlier invitation to be the state’s brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda?
I happened to attend one of Ramdev’s yoga shivirs in Delhi. What struck me with awe were the testimonials of some of the sufferers of the some incurable diseases when they stood up to thank the Baba for curing their ailments. Curiously, the announcements of these sufferers were made on the mike and then, they would stand up to shower their blessings on the Baba!
I could not claim whether these were stage managed public relations exercises or some incredible facts. However, the Baba was indeed made to look adept at performing such miracles. I wasn’t surprised that some of the members of the Parliament seriously took the “Divya Putrajeevak Seed”, manufactured by the Baba’s Divya Pharmacy, as a magic medicine that would enable women conceive male child.
Doesn’t it speak volumes of Baba’s supernatural abilities when a Rajya Sabha member of the opposition Janata Dal (United), KC Tyagi, expressed his concerns over the medicine in the upper house of the Parliament, saying “Putrajeewak Beej’ (son-bearing seeds) produced by his company is against PM’s campaign of ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save and educate the girl child)”?
Ramdev hit back for “trying to malign image of a fakir in order to defame the wazir (Prime Minister)”.
There are millions who use and vouch for the quality of Baba’s ayurvedic medicines. This reflects in the business revenue that his flagship company, Patanjali Ayurved, generates. It grossed a turnover of about Rs. 1,200 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal year and the business has constantly been showing an upward swing.
Obviously, the Baba enjoys the confidence of the consumers and this must have something to do with the quality of his products. No questions there. Yet, it also shows that the Baba is a great salesman, very unlike a sage. His ‘Divya Putrajeevak Seed’ actually turned out to be a clever marketing gimmick as finally Ramdev conceded that ‘Putrajeevak’ was only the botanical name of the ayurvedic medicine – Putranjiva Roxburghii, which translates into ‘putrajeevak’ in Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, and Bengali, and had nothing to do with the gender of a child.
Controversies and Vishwamitra were inseparable. The great saint being seduced by apsaras is part of folklore.
Ramdev has his own share of controversies, though they have nothing to do with the opposite sex but concern his business empire. (Although, once he cross dressed to “save life” when he had tried to initiate an Anna Hazare like anti-corruption movement in New Delhi in 2011). There was much uproar even in the Parliament in the past when allegations flew high that some of his medicines used human bones. He also had some run-ins with the tax authorities.
Can Ramdev be truly called an ascetic? Has he really renounced the world in the true tradition of a hermit? Vishwamitra had denounced his kingdom to lead an ascetic life. He had an ambition; however, his ambition precluded earthly pleasures. He wanted to be a Brahmarshi and finally, as legends say, he was bestowed with the title of Brahmarshi by Lord Brahma.
As for Ramdev, even his benefactor, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party seems to be pushed to a corner following the ‘Putrajeevak Beej’ controversy. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar now says, “We told him (Ramdev) whether the name of this medicine (Putrajeevak Beej) could be changed…We should accept whatever clarification he gave on this issue”.
Much against Ramdev’s claims that he declined the cabinet status offer of the Haryana Government, reports now surface that how the BJP’s central leadership had prevailed upon Ramdev to decline the offer that was actually made unilaterally by the state Health Minister Anil Vij.
What does it imply? One thing is clear that any comparison between Vishwamitra and Ramdev is an anathema. Because Kalyug and its saints have their own ‘kalyugi’ traits! Any doubt
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What does it imply? One thing is clear that any comparison between Vishwamitra and Ramdev is an anathema. Because Kalyug and its saints have their own ‘kalyugi’ traits! Any doubt
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