It seems the government's days of Chakrasana aren't over. The Congress-led UPA that rushed several senior ministers to meet Ramdev at the airport only a month back is now tightening the screws on the maverick yoga exponent's businesses from pharma to media firms.
There isn't a disease the popular yoga guru has said he cannot cure, including HIV/AIDS. His extraordinary claims, often bordering on the ridiculous, have sparked protests and led health activists and civil rights campaigners to question if he is professionally qualified to dole out medicines on various ailments. But the guru has rarely backed up his claims with data.
Take for example his views on homosexuality.
Ramdev has claimed that homosexuality is a mental disease, and that mentally stable people do not become homosexuals. When the Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuality in 2009, Ramdev said the verdict will encourage criminality and sick mentality. He was quoted in the media describing homosexuality as shameful and insulting.
Ramdev was sent a cease and desist order by the health ministry after he said that sex education in schools should be replaced by yoga education to combat the spread of HIV and AIDS.
No pills for black money?
It's surprising that the television star, who coaxed hundreds of India's semi-urban middleclass households in to following a popular brand of ancient Indian yoga, hasn't yet claimed a medicinal cure for corruption.
But let's face it, the anti-corruption protest led by Ramdev has been anything but dull. He was rudely woken up from sleep after midnight by hundreds of Delhi Police personnel at the hallowed Ramlila grounds, famous for the annual folk re-enactments of the life of Lord Ram. Ramdev tried to give the police a slip by jumping from a dais and merging into the crowd dressed up as a woman.
The government, initially seen as appeasing the popular yoga guru to prevent him from leading tens of thousands of followers in to a hunger strike to demand that the government bring back illegally expatriated money from overseas tax havens, is now investigating Ramdev's sources of income.
The yoga guru's global business is spread across three trusts with a turnover of $ 40 million every year. His book and CD business has a monthly turnover of around $ 500,000.
Ramdev's hugely popular ayurveda medicines
From capsules that enhance sexual vigour to bottled gourd juice, the Patanjali Ayurveda Limited sells a variety of products under the Divya Yoga brand. Ramdev publicly promotes his products, many of which are based on natural remedies practiced in India for thousands of years, and are actually found to be useful in curing tropical ailments and minor illnesses.
However, the yoga guru has also had his share of controversy. There have been repeated demands that his medicines must be tested by the Food and Drug Administration before marketing. There have been questions also whether Ramdev is trained to dole out medicines without a degree in medicine.
But when has controversies fazed the maverick guru? It is only a matter of time before Ramdev comes up with a cure for black money.
