SC on Baba Ramdev: Reigning irrationality and obscurantism

The Supreme Court’s ban on Baba Ramdev to claim superiority over the modern medical system has not been taken in its proper context. Most of the media chose not to debate the issue, and the rest were content with seeing a Modi supporter being slammed by the apex court. Some were happy that the propaganda machinery of the ruling BJP had lost a big source of funding. We know Patanjali feeds the mainstream media, which is supportive of Prime Minister Modi, with costly advertisements. Hardly the people could realize is that the Supreme Court has indirectly hit those ideas that are opposed to the scientific temper. The judgment has come at a time when irrational ideas are dominating the country’s discourse. Very few of us are concerned with what the BJP and the RSS are doing in the name of rescuing the country from the “colonial mindset." The dubious political project is not only devoid of any progressive content but also aimed at polarizing the country on religious and ethnic lines. One of its manifold implications is visible in states such as Manipur. The disturbing news of ethnic violence has started surfacing again. Manipuri society is not moving towards reconciliation, and the state has withdrawn in favor of the majority community. We see another version of what is being done at the national level: the marginalization of minorities.

Baba Ramdev is the typical case of the convergence of communalism and politics that is capable of presenting superstition in a modern and scientific-looking language. The right-wing ideology in India uses anticolonial discourse to serve the interests of the rich and dominant sections of society. It had collaborated with the British during the independence struggle, and now its new masters are corporate and high-caste elites. Yoga and Ayurveda have been two domains that have become playing fields for right-wing politics in the garb of medical cure and good health. It is interesting to look back at the history of promoting yoga and Ayurveda during the independence movement. It was part of the anti-colonial movement. A noted freedom fighter and associate of Gandhi, Shri Pad Damodar Satvalekar, popularized Yoga among the common masses. Before his advent, yoga was the exclusive domain of sages and renouncers. Though meditation was part of the spiritual journey of social and religious reformers including Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Vivekananda, and Maharshi Aurobindo, it took some time to become popular among the masses. Many saints contributed to its popularization and were deeply associated with the independence struggle. People like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Guru Golwalkar were never associated with any such movement. They were instead involved in promoting military training. It must be noted that their military model was a copy of the colonial army and the police.

Were freedom fighters and Gandhians promoting irrational and unscientific medical ideas through yoga and Ayurveda? If we look at a speech of Mahatma Gandhi during the non-cooperation movement, it becomes clear that he wanted Ayurveda to enrich it with scientific knowledge. He advised the Ayurveda practitioners to modernize their knowledge through scientific research. We must remember that he was the one who inspired Dr. Sushila Nayyar to become a doctor. She founded Kasturba Hospital in Wardha, which later became the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences. She also went to study at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in the USA. She remained associated with leprosy and tuberculosis elimination programs. She was the personal physician of Mahatma Gandhi. Another big name that was associated with the freedom movement led by Mahatma Gandhi was Dr. BC Roy. He became chief minister of West Bengal after independence. He was the personal doctor of Mahatma Gandhi. He also worked for public health. If we look at the journey of people such as Sushila Nayyar and BC Roy, we can find the core of their ideology. They were concerned with the public health challenges, including leprosy, tuberculosis, and cancer. Contrary to this fight, proponents of Hinduism were using tradition and culture to look backward. If the freedom struggle was trying to reform culture and tradition to make them more humanistic and egalitarian, the right wing was trying to use it to perpetuate inequality and oppression. We do not find any examples of people-oriented programs under the leadership of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha. The founder of the RSS, Dr. K B Hedgewar, and his mentor, Dr. BS Munje, were doctors by profession. However, none of them worked for the promotion of public health. Hindu Mahasabha leader Dr. Munje went to Italy to meet Mussolini, and Dr. Hedgewar founded the RSS. They also did nothing to promote the Indian medical system.

True to their tradition, the right-wing leaders of the present generation use yoga and Ayurveda to promote irrationality and obscurantism. It is also a case of appropriation of the rich tradition of using yoga and Ayurveda to benefit the people. A close look at the work of Patanjali and other similar groups reveals how they have commercialized yoga and Ayurveda. They have been customized to the benefit of the affluent. Not long ago, Swami Satyanand of Divine Life Mission worked for the promotion of yoga among the common masses. He popularised yoga in different parts of the world without commercializing or communalizing it. He founded the International Yoga University in Munger, a backward district of Bihar. The mission never associated itself with Hindutva ideology.

We must examine the ideology of Baba Ramdev and others in the proper ideological context and understand how it is a tool against the scientific temper promoted by Jawaharlal Nehru and the Constitution of India. The fight between the Indian Medical Association and Patanjali should be seen as scientific temper versus irrationality and superstition. The intervention of the Supreme Court will prohibit Patanjali from befooling others in the name of yoga and ayurveda.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)