Yoga guru Baba Ramdev personally issued an apology on Monday after a Patanjali official’s remarks about a spiritual saint in Assam triggered massive protests in the state. He also said the official who made the alleged derogatory comment had been removed from Patanjali.
According to The Sentinel, Ramdev praised Srimanta Shankardev – the spiritual guru who was allegedly insulted by the Patanjali official.
On 28 February, Satinath Barale, a yoga instructor with Patanjali, had at a yoga camp held in Duni in Darrang district of Assam, said Srimanta Shankardev wasn’t a saint and there was nothing spiritual about the Namghars in Assam. He had also called the use of mustard oil to light earthen lamps in Namghars “sheer stupidity”.
His comments were met with an uproar with people protesting against Patanjali products in the state in public and on social media.
According to reports in the local media, an FIR was registered against Barale at the Sualkuchi police station. A complaint against Barale was also lodged at Panbazar police station on Sunday.
Patanjali had on Sunday tendered an unconditional apology to defuse the situation.
“We have no intention of hurting the sentiments of the people of Assam. If anybody is hurt we are genuinely sorry. We will ensure this is not repeated in future,” a Patanjali official told reporters following a discussion with supporters of Srimanta Sankardev at Patanjali Yoga Training Institute in Mirza.
“The moment we got to know that Satinath Barale (employee of Patanjali) made indecent comments on Guru Shankar Devji Maharaj, we expelled him from Patanjali,” Baba Ramdev was quoted as saying by ANI on Monday.
He added that Patanjali did not support such indecent comments.