Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
Yoga guru Ramdev has triggered fresh controversy by using the term “sharbat jihad” in a viral video, where he claimed that a company selling sharbat is using its earnings to build mosques and madrasas, while promoting Patanjali’s rose sharbat.
The video was shared by ‘Patanjali Products’ on Facebook with a caption in Hindi, which, when translated, read, “Protect your family and innocent children from the poison of toilet cleaner being sold under the name of ‘sharbat jihad’ and cold drinks. Bring home only Patanjali sharbat and juices.”
Ramdev is seen in the video criticising soft drinks, saying they are like toilet cleaner being consumed in the name of quenching thirst during summer. He refers to this as an “attack” and compares it to a form of poison.
“In the name of quenching thirst during summers, people drink cold beverages that are basically toilet cleaners. On one side, there’s the attack of toilet-cleaner-like poison, and on the other, there’s a company selling sharbat, which uses the money earned from it to build mosques and madrasas. That’s fine, it’s their religion,” Ramdev says in the video.
He adds that drinking that company’s sharbat — apparently referring to Hamdard’s Rooh Afza — helps fund the construction of mosques and madrasas, while choosing Patanjali’s rose sharbat, he claims, supports gurukuls, Acharyakulam, Patanjali University, and the Bharatiya Shiksha Board.
