Baba Ramdev, Don’t Mock Those Gasping for Oxygen, Show Compassion

Video Editor: Vivek Gupta

In a recent video that went viral on social media, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev was heard making fun of those gasping for breath and desperately looking for oxygen support. In the video, Baba Ramdev is seen mocking and belittling the thousands of victims of the deadly second wave of COVID-19 in India, who are battling for their life in ICUs, on ventilators, on oxygen support, and those who lost their battle against the virus.

"People are looking for cylinders outside while God has given you two cylinders right here inside you," he said while referring to one's lungs. "Use them, fool!" he added.

“God has given us free oxygen. Why don’t we breathe? God has filled the atmosphere with oxygen, how is there a shortage?  People are dying, complaining of shortage of beds, oxygen, medicines, crematoriums – only spreading negativity.”

Baba Ramdev, Yoga Guru

Baba Ramdev, Are Thousands Dying Due to COVID to ‘Defame the System’?

Not only did Baba Ramdev make unscientific claims, he also downplayed the severity of the current COVID crisis in the country, in terms of shortage of hospital beds, oxygen, medicines, and crematoriums.

What will Baba Ramdev say to the thousands who are dying due to lack of medical oxygen? What will he say to the near and dear ones of the deceased, will he mock them too? Are critical patients lying in hospital beds, in ICUs and on ventilators, happy to be that way? Are people dying due to COVID to ‘defame the system?’ Baba Ramdev seems to have turned a deaf ear to the COVID crisis staring India in the face but bodies lying in morgues, crematoriums, graveyards, rivers, and riverbeds depict a grim reality.

However, it’s not the first instance of insensitivity from Baba Ramdev amid a raging pandemic.

In April 2020, he claimed that snorting mustard oil will destroy the novel coronavirus. He also suggested self-diagnosis methods, which were all later refuted by verified sources.

In June 2020, he launched ‘Coronil’, claiming it was a 100% cure for COVID-19, which was also later proven to be misleading. Coronil was launched without the nod of the Ayush Ministry and was later, released as an ‘immunity booster’. This year, he re-launched Coronil, in the presence of Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan. It was said to be ‘WHO-certified’, a claim that was later taken back.

Kangana Ranaut’s Insensitive ‘Small-Time-Flu’ Jibe

Baba Ramdev is not alone... Recently, actor Kangana Ranaut announced that she has tested positive for COVID-19 on her Instagram account. She wrote that she was feeling tired since the past few days, and upon being tested, she found out that she had contracted the virus.

But what got netizens irked and put her at the centre of criticism was her remark calling COVID-19 a ‘small-time flu’. “COVID-19 is nothing but 'a small-time flu that got too much press and is now psyching few people. If you are scared, the virus will scare you more,” she posted on Instagram.

Considering how the post was insensitive and scientifically inaccurate, Instagram took it down a day later.

Big Questions for Ramdev and Ranaut

For people like Baba Ramdev and Kangana Ranaut who belittle a deadly virus that has killed over 2.5 lakh Indians, who mock and ridicule fellow citizens gasping for oxygen, here are some big questions:

1. Baba Ramdev, if Coronil isn’t actually a cure for COVID and merely an immunity-booster, why was such a claim made initially? Why was it passed without the nod of the Ayush Ministry? Why was it launched to mislead lakhs of India who succumbed to COVID-19?
2. Why was Coronil relaunched as a ‘WHO-certified’ drug when it wasn’t? Will Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, in whose presence Coronil was re-launched, take accountability for misleading the nation?
3. Why did the government and a section of the media that praised Baba Ramdev for his Coronil ‘cure’ question him and hold him accountable?
4. Why was Baba Ramdev not questioned and held accountable for mocking those gasping for oxygen, for mocking the deceased?
5. Why was Kangana not questioned for her insensitive and irresponsible ‘small-time flu’ remark?