Yoga guru and Patanjali founder Baba Ramdev sparked controversy on Sunday after an undated video of him making comments on Other Backward Classes (OBC), went viral.
The undated video was shared widely on social media and the hashtag "Boycott Patanjali" started trending on X. In the video, Ramdev was heard asserting his Brahmin identity and insulting the OBC community.
“Mera mool gotra hai brahma gotra. Aur main hu agnihotri. Agnihotri brahmin hu main. Haan, Bole ‘Babaji aap toh OBC ho’. Main hun Agnihotri Bahman, main hun vedi brahman, main hoon dwivedi brahman, tridevdi brahman aur chaturvedi brahman… Chaar ved maine padhe hain (My original gotra is Brahma gotra. I am an Agnihotri Brahman. People say babaji is OBC… I am a Vedi Brahmin, Dwivedi Brahmin, Trivedi Brahmin, Chaturvedi Brahmin — I have read four vedas),” Ramdev was allegedly heard saying in the video.
As the video triggered outrage, he insisted that his statement had been misconstrued and misheard.
Ramdev came forward issuing a clarification saying that his comments were directed at AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and not intended to insult the OBC community.
He denied having said any such statement. “I have never said anything as such. I was talking about ‘Owaisi’ and not ‘OBC’. He and his predecessors have always had anti-national thinking. I don’t take him seriously.”
Following the video, numerous users on social media initiated the hashtag “#boycottpatanjali” to express their protest and criticise Ramdev for the purported insult aimed at the backward community.
Meanwhile, Owaisi also retweeted many posts on his X account, which said that Ramdev had twisted his original statement- doing a ‘u-turn’ on his ‘OBC statement’ and calling it a statement on Owaisi.
"Why isn't Fraud Ramdev arrested yet for insulting the OBC community?" a Congress social media coordinator wrote sharing the viral video.