In a recent turn of events, Uttarakhand’s licensing authority has finally paid attention to the Supreme Court’s order to suspend the Patanjali products whose advertisements are misleading, claiming themselves better than pharmaceutical products and promising to cure COVID, diabetes, heart stroke, cancer, etc.
In the gone by months, SC issued several notices to the Ayurvedic Conglomerate, Patanjali which its owners and Uttarakhand authorities blatantly neglected. To this the apex court reacted with a bold statement rebuking the Uttarakhand, it said “We are not blind, we will rip you apart.”
Know those 14 items banned by Uttarakhand Authority
On April 29, Uttarakhand suspended the licenses of 14 products made by Patanjali.
Here’s the list of those products:
- Swasari Gold
- Swasari Vati
- Bronchom
- Swasari Pravahi
- Swasari Avaleh
- Mukta Vati Extra Power
- Lipidom
- Bp Grit
- Madhugrit
- Madhunashini Vati Extra Power
- Livamrit Advance
- Livogrit
- Eyegrit Gold
- Patanjali Drishti Eye Drop
Setback for Baba Ramdev’s Company
This order by Uttarakhand’s licensing authority has come as a setback for the Yoga guru and his ayurvedic firm in the lieu of publishing misleading ads. A criminal complaint has also been filed against Ramdev and Acharya Balkrishna in the crime of violation of the Drugs and Magic Remedies Act.
Mithilesh Kumar, from the state regulator wrote in his order that the manufacturing permits of the ayurvedic firm has been “suspended with immediate effect”.
Tracing back to the root of Patanjali’s destruction
All this ruckus and chao dates back to Indian Medical Association’s allegations against his firm’s ad which downgraded allopathic and pharmaceutical products and falsely claimed to cure COVID, cancer and other heinous ailments.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) president Dr RV Asokan on Monday said yoga guru Baba Ramdev crossed a ‘red line’ when he claimed that his products could cure COVID-19 and at the same time belittled the significance of modern and allopathic medicine. While speaking to PTI, Asokan quoted that Ramdev went against the medical profession as he remarked modern medicines as ‘stupid’ and ‘bankrupt science’.
“He went against the national interest when the government was driving the vaccination programme. He said 20,000 doctors died after taking two doses of the COVID vaccine. And he was having such a high profile that, you know, people believed what he said. That was the unfortunate part of it,” Asokan added.
We have been tolerating mediocracy in this country for too long. Our profession also has been tolerating this and we never wanted to prove anything to anyone. He crossed a line when he advertised about Coronil (a Patanjali tablet) and said the WHO had approved it, which was a wrong statement,” Asokan said.
“Our leadership thought he has to be challenged. It was in 2022 and we had to channelise it through the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act. What has happened in the Supreme Court is two-three years of hard work,” he said.
About the ancient Indian tradition of using ayurvedic remedies he said while respecting them, “We have lived with them all these decades. We respect each other. But somehow, some sections of society thought we were anti-traditional systems and, as for the public apology, it was to the Supreme Court. And it’s more about the contempt of the court than the substance of the thing”.
SC rebukes Patanjali
On April 10th, the Supreme Court of India issued warnings to Uttarakhand State Licensing Authority on its inaction against Patanjali. The apex court said the Authority was indulged in “deep slumber” and there was a clear attempt being made by it to “pass the buck” and somehow delay the matter despite the repeated orders and warnings being issued about the misleading advertisements.
After all this conundrum, Patanjali founder and management released apology for their action in a short column tucked somewhere between the pages of newspaper. To which “But is your apology the same size as the advertisements you normally issue in newspapers? Did it not cost you ‘tens of lakhs’ to put front-page advertisements?” Justice Kohli asked Mr. Rohatgi.
A day after the Supreme Court asked Patanjali Ayurveda, the Haridwar based company issued another ‘bigger’ apology in the newspapers on April 24.
