Ramdev seems to be angry with BJP, but party looks for solution in ‘Modi balm’

File photo of Baba Ramdev | Facebook

BJP considers Ramdev a ‘significant asset’, given his mass appeal, OBC roots and lower middle class follower base, and wants him on their side in 2019.

New Delhi: Yoga guru and Patanjali Ayurved co-founder Baba Ramdev’s remarks Sunday that he might not campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls could prove to be yet another thorn for the party as it gears up to battle five years of anti-incumbency.

Ramdev, who said this while addressing ‘NDTV Yuva’, also warned the government that rising fuel prices will cost it dear.

Highly placed sources in the BJP say that given Ramdev’s importance in the party’s electoral and political space, attempts will be made at the highest level to reach out to him.

The sources said the “Modi balm” will eventually have to be used, with plans to arrange a meeting where Prime Minister Narendra Modi can placate Ramdev.

Patanjali, which had registered a 111 per cent growth in 2016-17 and equally impressive figures in the previous financial years, had aimed to grow two-fold in 2018, but the roll out of the goods and services tax (GST) dampened its hopes.

It was reported earlier this year that Patanjali Ayurved was under the national anti-profiteering authority’s scanner for not passing on the benefit of the GST rate cut to consumers. There have also been reports of a fall in quality of the company’s products, which are marketed as a swadeshi alternative to adulterated and foreign offerings.

The sources said there was a lack of clarity on why the yoga guru was unhappy with the BJP, but the party believes an audience with the PM, where he can articulate his grievances, will provide the necessary healing touch.

A healthy relationship

Ramdev has always maintained a healthy equation with PM Modi. For instance, in November 2014, just a few days after his election as PM, Ramdev had called on Modi to discuss “issues of national importance”.

In May 2017, PM Modi inaugurated Patanjali Research Institute at Haridwar.

Sources in the BJP said Ramdev was a “significant asset” for the party. The yoga guru, who campaigned for the BJP in 2014 and took a staunch anti-Congress line, was provided with Z-category security under the current administration and even named the ambassador for the Haryana government.

There have also been allegations that Ramdev’s company has received discounts on land acquisitions in states led by the BJP.

The BJP finds it useful to tap into his wide network of followers, and his mass popularity is believed to shore up in the party’s favour.

Not only does the BJP feel that Ramdev’s significant lower middle class following help it connect to this segment, the yoga guru’s Yadav roots are seen as an important tool with which to woo the OBC community.

This is especially crucial as the BJP attempts to shed its upper caste, Brahmin-Baniya image and systematically pursues OBCs and Dalits, including by giving constitutional backing to the National Commission for Backward Classes.

While there are no exact caste-wise population figures, a survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in 2007 pegged the OBC population at around 41 per cent.

Ramdev was among the celebrities and popular figures BJP president Amit Shah had met as part of his party’s ‘Sampark for Samarthan’ programme to popularise the party’s initiatives.