E-Paper
Oppn attacks Ramdev for ayurveda medicine 'promising male child'
A demand to ban a purported ayurveda product by yoga guru Ramdev's Divya Pharmacy that promises a male child was made in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, with Opposition members terming it as illegal and unconstitutional and seeking stringent action against the manufacturers.
Opposition parties on Thursday asked the government to ban an infertility medicine sold by yoga guru Ramdev that allegedly promises the user a male child, a charge his aides have denied.
KC Tyagi of the Janata Dal (United) showed the House a packet of Divya Putrajeevak Seed bought from Divya Pharmacy run by Ramdev.
He said the product promised a male child to the user, apparently trying to cash in on an Indian fascination even as the government is trying hard to contain female foeticide and other related crimes in the country.
He displayed a copy of the purchase receipt, saying “the brand ambassador of Haryana” was illegally selling such products. Tyagi didn’t take Ramdev’s name, but his pointed references were obvious.
Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan took the packet from Tyagi and gave it to health minister JP Nadda.
“The government will look into it and take appropriate action,” he said, adding the Prime Minister was personally monitoring the Beti Bachao, Beti Padao campaign.
Bachchan and Trinamool Congress MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy said the product should be banned immediately.
Deputy chairman of the House, PJ Kurien, said sex selection by a medicine or even pre-natal sex determination was against the law, but the chair cannot do anything about the product.
Ramdev hails from Haryana — a state known for its skewed sex ratio — and the new BJP government there has recently accorded the yoga guru cabinet-rank status, though he refused the honour.
A statement from Ramdev's aide SK Tijarawala, said Putrajivak is a classical name and deals with infertility issue, not gender selection.
The website of Divya Pharmacy prices the product at $10.99 and the description says it is a “unique herbal product of putrajeevak which is aphrodisiac, controls habitual abortion and helps in sterility”.
