On the evening of 23 June, Baba Ramdev appeared on one news channel after another to defend his latest subterfuge.
Earlier that day, the billionaire yoga guru and Acharya Balkrishna—his closest aide and the CEO of Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved Ltd—had launched a “Divya Corona Kit” as “the first and foremost evidence-based Ayurvedic medicine for COVID-19”. This kit consisted of three medicines: Coronil tablets, Swasari Vati tablets and Anu Taila drops. Patanjali claimed that the natural phytochemicals in kit ingredients such as tulsi, giloy and ashwagandha guaranteed 100% recovery within seven days. Ramdev and Balkrishna knew this was a brazen claim …
Roshni is a features writer and former editor of The Morning Context's Chaos team. Her career spans The Ken, Reuters, the Hindustan Times and DNA. She is a recipient of the UNFPA Laadli award and was shortlisted for the RedInk Awards 2016 for her story on Mumbai’s leprosy colonies. Her far-flung ideas would sometimes drive our editor-in-chief Ashish up the wall, but he wouldn’t have had it any other way (even if he didn’t admit it).
roshni@mailtmc.com