News Analysis India

Tag: Baba Ramdev

  • No farmer is anti-national but some elements want to take advantage of them, says Baba Ramdev

    Express News Service
    DEHRADUN: Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev on Tuesday said that some people are taking advantage of farmers and that not a single farmer in this country is anti-national.  

    “Not a single farmer of this country is anti-national but there are some elements who have other motives and want to take advantage of the farmers. The movement must be saved from such elements,” said the Yoga Guru.

    He also expressed his concern for the farmers protesting in such a bad weather when winters are on peak.   “The government is already listening to the concerns of the parents and has assured them of rectifying their issues,” said the Yoga Guru.

    He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in no way against farmers of this country. “He (Modi) is the first PM who has promised to double the income of the farmers of the country and to deliver justice. Instead of being adamant over rolling back the farm laws both sides must act on finding a midway,” said the yoga guru.

    Attacking the opposition parties, Baba Ramdev said that many parties who have nothing left to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi are dragging vaccine into politics.  

    “The opposition has nothing left through which they can blame Modi ji. These parties should refrain from politicising the vaccine. They have become ideologically bankrupt and have nothing. They should look for genuine issues to confront Modi and think of a ‘solution’ to his political acumen. We should all be alert of such elements who are hindering anything that is to benefit our country,” added Ramdev while speaking to the media in Haridwar.

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    Commenting further on the ongoing row over Indian vaccines approved by the government, Ramdev said that the vaccines are for the good of the people and the country should be thankful to the scientists. “Vaccine doesn’t belong to any party or a particular sect. It is a scientific product that is important for people having comorbidities such as hypertension and diabetes. They must get vaccinated along with our frontline health workers who are fighting this pandemic,” said Ramdev. He also asserted that people who are healthy must put their name on a waiting list and wait for vaccination.  

    Last month, Uttarakhand government officials had said that more than 93,000 health workers of the state will be given the COVID-19 vaccine free of cost. Officials from the state health department told that work is on to prepare a list of other frontline workers including those from the state police department as well as people aged over 50-years with any comorbidities.

     Uttarakhand will vaccinate over 20 lakh people in the state in the first phase of vaccination which will include one lakh frontline workers, five lakh sick and 13 lakh elderly. Whether they will be charged or be vaccinated free of cost is not clear yet.

    The state government has already formed multiple-level task forces at state, district and block levels for Covid-19 vaccination in the near future. The state-level task force, headed by the chief secretary, will have a total of 11 members including secretaries of finance, health, home, world and child development, urban development, Panchayati raj, rural development and director-general of health. 

  • Ramdev says ‘very difficult’ to predict next PM

    Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has said it was “very difficult” to predict the country’s next Prime Minister in view of the current political situation.

    Noting that he was “not focussed” on politics, the 53-year-old yoga guru said he would not support or oppose anyone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    Talking to reporters at the airport here Tuesday, Ramdev said, “We can’t say who will become the next prime minister (after the 2019 general elections).”

    “We do not have a political or religious agenda… We want to make a spiritual India and world… Not Hindu India or communal India,” he added.

    His comments come days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a big blow as it lost power in its earlier ruled Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

    The Congress won convincingly in Chhattisgarh, less so in Rajasthan and edged out the saffron party in a cliffhanger in Madhya Pradesh.

    Referring to the Ayodhya dispute, Ramdev claimed that the BJP would lose trust if the ‘Ram Mandir’ was not built in Ayodhya now.

    The yoga guru was in the state to attend a national executive meeting of Bharat Swabhiman in Rameswaram.

    On Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah’s remarks on mob violence in Uttar Pradesh, he said, “accusing India of religious intolerance amounts to degrading the country’s pride”.

    The charge that country was religiously intolerant was tantamount to “ungratefulness, disrespect and treason,” he added.

    Apparently referring to the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, Shah had said that at many places in the country the “death of a cow is being given more importance than the killing of a policeman”.

    The veteran actor had also expressed anxiety over the well-being of his children, who he said, have not been brought up as followers of any particular religion.

    The violence, which occurred earlier this month over an incident of alleged cow slaughter, had claimed two lives, including that of a police inspector.