Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev is no stranger to controversy. And, in what may come as another controversy for him, he claimed on Friday that 80 per cent youth in Punjab suffer from drug problem. Addressing mediapersons here after holding a meeting with Haryana Chief Minister and Cabinet Ministers for promotion of Yoga and Ayurveda in the State, Ramdev said, “80 per cent youth in Punjab have drug problems. People keep telling me to do something about this and save Punjab.”
When asked how he got the figures on drug addicts in Punjab, the Yoga Guru immediately took a u-turn on his comments and said that “this is what I have heard from people and I did not intend to malign anyone”. Notably, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was slammed by Punjab’s ruling Shrimoni Akali Dal for similar comments made in 2012. Rahul had claimed 7 out of 10 youths in Punjab have a drug problem, triggering a controversy with ruling Akali Dal asking how the Congress leader came to this “mathematical conclusion” on drug addiction in the State.
Asked if he had any plan to start a campaign against drug menace in Punjab, Ramdev said, “In Punjab, we want to do good things, the entire country is ours… Vasudeva Kutumbakam (a Sanskrit phrase which means the world is one family).” Haryana’s brand Ambassador for promotion of Yoga and Ayurveda— Baba Ramdev, accompanied by his close aide Acharya Balkrishna, was in Chandigarh on Friday for a meeting with Haryana Government to discuss plans to promote of yoga and ayurveda in the State. However, while briefing the mediapersons about Haryana Government’s plans, the Yog Guru veered towards the drug menace in Punjab, where SAD-BJP run a coalition Government.
About the meeting, Ramdev said that the State Government has decided to set up an AYUSH University at Kurukshetra. Also, a world’s largest herbal forest would be set up at Morni in district Panckhula. He said that facility of high quality surgical treatment would be made available in this University. Apart from this, the University would also have the facility of IPD and OPD, Pharmacy and an Herbal Garden.
He said that June 21 would be observed as World Yoga Day. “On this day, we would take out around 10 to 20 crore people of the country from their homes with an aim to motivate them to make yoga a part of their life, said Ramdev adding that their volunteers would launch a campaign from June 1 to June 20 and invite the people at their door step to participate in the World Yoga Day.” He said that efforts would be made in Haryana to lead this campaign. For this, 10,000 volunteers would actively work to ensure people’s participation in the celebration of World Yoga Day, he added.