Ramdev sticks to opinion on Periyar, says his supporters 'increase negativity' in society

With the calls for his arrest and boycott of Patanjali products trending on social media following his remarks on supporters of late social activist Periyar Ramaswami, yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Monday categorically denied that he is against backward classes.

#ArrestRamdev was trending on Twitter after Ramdev in a recent TV interview said followers of Periyar are backing “intellectual terrorism”. Ramdev who is conducting a five-day free yoga camp in the city said he has given ‘sanyasa deeksha’ to Dalits and never discriminated against people on the basis of their castes or religions.

"I still stress on the point that followers of Periyar have increased negativity in the society. Periyar’s view was that people who follow gods are fools and those who worship gods are miscreants. But we in India have a great culture to spread robust positivism and believe in god. The divisive forces existed then and they do exist now. But I do not pay much heed to them, while I also make it a point to clarify so that negativity will not triumph," he said.

"Some say I follow casteism and if that was true, why would I embrace Dalits?’’ he said.

Ramdev also said soon after #ArrestRamdev started trending on Sunday on Twitter, another campaign Salute_Baba_Ramdev began appearing on the micro-blogging site.

“This way whenever negativity surfaces, positivity also makes its presence felt”, he said. On the allegations that he is making his Patanjali Ayurved business flourish by making false promises, Ramdev retorted that there is no need for a ‘fakir’ (religious ascetic) to flourish economically.

Ramdev said that he is armed with 500 scientists who approve of Patanjali products.

About the #BoycottPatanjaliProducts campaign that was trending on Twitter following his statement on ‘intellectual terrorism’, Ramdev said it has become familiar for him to fight such evil forces.

The Bhim Army, an organisation of Dalit rights activists has demanded an apology from Ramdev for calling followers of Periyar “propagators of intellectual terrorism”.

However, Ramdev stood firm on his earlier statement and said Indo-Aryan propaganda promoted by Periyar would never succeed to divide the nation.