New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to accept Patanjali’s apology over the publication of misleading medical advertisements in breach of an undertaking given to the court. The Ayurveda remedy manufacturing company’s managing director Acharya Balkrishna and its co-founder Ramdev were present in court when this happened.
The court has been hearing a petition filed by the Indian Medical Association against ads issued by Patanjali that were attacking allopathy.
While coming down heavily on the company for its ads, the court also questioned why the Union government had not acted against Patanjali and what it was doing during this time.
“We have questions for AYUSH [ministry]. You issued notice to Patanjali and they filed a reply and reply is not before us and we are wondering why. COVID was in 2022 and you had yourself stated that these were at best a supplement to the main medicine. This was not publicized at all. Nothing could move without Central go-ahead during COVID and you did nothing to make this known. It was a critical period,” Justice Kohli said, according to Bar and Bench.
What was the Union government doing during this time? Far from acting as the court appears to have expected, it was busy peddling its own unscientific claims – including one directly benefiting Patanjali.
In the list of Fundamental Duties, Article 51 A (h) of the Indian Constitution reads, to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.
1. Coronil
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan was at a press conference on February 19, 2021 to promote Coronil, the controversial Ayurvedic pill promoted by Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved. Coronil was a concoction of common Ayurvedic herbs. Since June 2020, attempts had been made to deploy it into India’s COVID-19 management protocol. Ramdev’s deputy, Balkrishna, had claimed then that the medicine had “been able to cure Covid-19 patients within 3-14 days”.
Harsh Vardhan, alongside his cabinet colleague Nitin Gadkari, was present months after this at a press conference with Baba Ramdev and other promoters of Patanjali to announce a scientific publication describing the efficacy of Coronil in ridding volunteers, part of a clinical trial, of coronavirus. Jansatta reported jubilantly; “Coronil pe shak ke badal chhate” or clouds of doubt over Coronil disappeared after the press conference, with Union ministers present. The paper said “9 research papers had been published on Coronil and 16 were to follow.”
An editorial in The Hindu then said that Coronil is a product manufactured by a private company. “Doctors — Harsh Vardhan is an ENT surgeon — are explicitly barred from promoting drugs of any sort. Though Dr Vardhan didn’t explicitly mention Coronil in his address at the function, what public functionaries are seen to be doing speaks louder than what they say. Baba Ramdev first claimed that his product was endorsed by the WHO.”
The World Health Organisation or WHO, though quietly, without naming names, raised a shindig. It said, “WHO has not reviewed or certified the effectiveness of any traditional medicine for the treatment COVID-19.”
Moneycontrol wrote how Patanjali had claimed Coronil is the “first evidence-based medicine for COVID-19”, adding that it will benefit 158 countries.
But after pushback from WHO, Balakrishnan tweeted, “We want to clarify to avoid confusion that our WHO GMP compliant COPP certificate to Coronil is issued by DCGI, Government of India. It is clear that WHO do not approve or disapprove any drugs. WHO works for building a better, healthier future for people all over the world. ”
Four years before this endorsement of Patanjali by his ministers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fully backed and endorsed Patanjali. On May 3, 2017, he said at the inauguration of Patanjali Research Institute in Haridwar: “मुझे विश्वास है कि बालकृष्ण जी की ये साधना, बाबा रामदेव का mission mode में समर्पित ये काम और भारत की महान उज्ज्वल परम्परा, उसको आधुनिक रूप-रंग के साथ, वैज्ञानिक अधिष्ठान के साथ आगे बढ़ाने का जो प्रयास है, वो भारत के लिए विश्व में अपनी एक जगह बनाने का आधार बन सकता है।“ He emphasised the importance of “packaging” herbal medicines.
During Covid, India was the only democracy, where its elected public representatives were not available to answer questions of the public or media on a regular basis. The communication was more one-sided with Modi using social media to urge countrymen and women to clap, bang thalis or light torches and lamps.
2. Thaali
“At 5 PM on 22nd March 2020, the day of the Janata Curfew, I have a special request. Will you all help?” asked Modi. He went ahead calling for all to clap, bang thalis and ring bells in unison. He called for a siren to alert people, and went on later, to justify the move, as one to unite people and prepare them to battle Corona. The latest explanation given was to Bill Gates.
3. Candles
He turned up again, calling for people to come out of their homes with lamps, torches, candles or use the cell phone’s flashlights for 9 minutes at 9 pm on April 5, 2020 to mark our fight against Covid-19. Modi also asked people to remain indoors and not form groups.
4. Bhabhiji Papad: “helps in fighting Corona”
Then minister of state for parliamentary affairs and heavy industries and public enterprises, Arjun Meghwal, now union law minister, was seen congratulating owner Sunil Bhansali’s product Bhabhiji Papad and wishing him success to promote an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. “Under the Atmanirbhar Bharat, Bhabhiji brand has come out with a papad which helps in developing antibodies, which will go into our bodies and help in fight against corona. Best wishes to the brand,” said Meghwal, holding a papad packet aloft.
