New Delhi: Yoga guru and Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev took the whole country by storm after he announced an Ayurvedic ‘cure’ for coronavirus. He was interviewed by multiple news channels, where he explained how the wonder drug ‘Coronil’ functions. However, the euphoria was short-lived as the Ministry of AYUSH stopped Patanjali from advertising the medicine.
On Times Now, anchor Rahul Shivshankar asked Baba Ramdev, “What are the ingredients used to make the medicine and how do they function?”
After an oddly long silence that did not inspire a lot of confidence, Ramdev mentioned cinnamon as one of the ingredients but then went silent again — “You can see all the ingredients in front of me here,” he said, pointing to an assortment of bowls in front of him. “We have done proper research on the ingredients and their use. It helps clear the respiratory system and boosts immunity,” he claimed.
Then Ramdev dropped the biggest claim of all — “This is even more effective than allopathic medicines.”
Anchor Rajdeep Sardesai hosted AYUSH Minister Shripad Y. Nayak and Baba Ramdev on Ayurveda as a possible treatment for Covid-19.
Putting Ramdev in a spot, Sardesai asked, “How can you make such claims without testing the drug?”
Ramdev turned defensive, “We have taken the necessary permission to make the drug, conduct a clinical trial. We have already answered all the questions AYUSH put forth, they will get it soon.
“We have not violated any rule and have only conducted the clinical trial after approval from CTRI,” he added.
Nayak, on his part, was diplomatic — “We can only make a statement about the effectiveness of the drug after looking at the documents. We will help them with all the rules and regulations.”
Sardesai tried grilling him on whether Patanjali was falsely advertising the drug as a Covid-19 cure, but Nayak never rose to the bait and repeated the same answer.
Staying away from the Coronil debate, NDTV 24×7 discussed the ongoing India-China tensions, and the two countries reportedly agreeing to a de-escalation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Lt General D.S. Hooda said, “China has forcefully established themselves in areas that were disputed. They were clearly aware of it. Fact is, they have come into Indian territory.”
Ananth Krishnan, a journalist with The Hindu, was not so optimistic — “They (China) haven’t publicly mentioned that they are going to disengage from anywhere that they see as their territory.”
“China keeps on saying that the situation is stable and controllable, because they are sitting on the areas they want,” he added.
On Aaj Tak, things were pretty much the same. What started out as a debate on India-China tensions, soon devolved into a blame game between Congress and BJP.
Anchor Rohit Sardana laid the groundwork first — “Bharat ye sanket de raha he, hum shanti chahte he, lekin China ke samne koi dabhav me nahi aane wale he (India is hinting that even though we want peace, we won’t succumb to China’s pressures.)
“Chedoge toh chodenge nahi,” (If you provoke, we won’t spare) he declared, bravely.
BJP’s Gaurav Bhatia was equally forthright: “PM Modi ne do badi baatein kaha, pehli ki Bharat ki jo bhoomi he, uska ek ek inch suraakshit he, aur humari veer sena uski suraksha kar rahi he, aur dooshri ye kahi ki humari veer sena ko khuli haat de di he. (PM Modi had said two things, first that India’s borders are safe and our army is protecting them and second that our army has full freedom at LAC).”
And then he indulged in a bit of Rahul-bashing— “Lekin durbhagya purne ye he, ki Congress ke neta Rahul Gandhi, jinko me 50 saal ka balak bulata hu, apni aparipakvata pura pura khulasa kar rahe he” (It’s unfortunate that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, whom I call a 50 year old boy, is only revealing his immaturity repeatedly).
In response, Congress’ Gourav Vallabh offered a timeline of different statements by Prime Minister Modi, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and all the subsequent clarifications issued by the government on the clash in Galwan Valley. “PM Modi 50 din tak jo bhi bol rahe the wo asatya bol rahe he (PM Modi was not telling the truth for 50 days), said Vallabh???.
Deepak Chaurasia started his debate on News Nation with a smile on his face and we soon found out why: “‘Desh ke behes’ ke sath hum ek baar fir se hazir he, naye kaapron ke sath, swadeshi kaapron ke saath (We are here with ‘Desh ke behes’, with new clothes, swadeshi clothes).” To prove the point, he was wearing a bandh gala jacket.
But aside from his swadeshi turn, his target last night was communist leader and politician Vivek Srivastava. Chaurasia kept pushing Srivastava to declare China as India’s number one enemy.
Finally, an exasperated Srivastava said that he won’t call China an enemy till PM Modi himself did so. “6 saal tak jhula jhula unhone Chinese ke Saath” (PM Modi has been swinging on swings with the Chinese for the past six years). Game, Srivastava?
