Until a few years ago, Baba Ramdev was ignorable. That is not to say that he did not make insensitive/dangerous remarks back then. He did, and was rightly called out for them, but in most other cases, we just laughed at his strange logic about things and moved on. 

Now, that is not possible. All things considered, he has an insane following and it is bothersome to see him make cold remarks and give suggestions that could actually cost lives. Here are some such statements.

1. When he said that allopathic medicines are “stupid”, baselessly claiming that remdesivir and other antibiotics have failed in showing any substantial results.

He then went on a rant about his understanding of the virus, which was so important to explain since any of the degree-holding doctors couldn’t have thought about it. 

Baba apologised for his remarks after a rebuke from Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

2. When he was talking of covid deaths that happened even after vaccination and took a tasteless dig at the frontline workers by saying, “What kind of doctors are they if they couldn’t save their own lives?”.

Since there seems to be some lack of research (or basic knowledge of the world) on his part, let me reiterate that the vaccines do not provide complete immunity from the virus. Also, deaths can happen even after people take both the jabs and that’s true for almost all vaccines that exist. This doesn’t mean that they’re not effective or not saving lives. 

3. When he made an insensitive remark on people struggling with breathing issues due to covid, saying that they do not know how to “breathe well”.

According to Baba, nature has given us two oxygen cylinders (nostrils) and so he doesn’t get all the “hue and cry” about the lack of medical oxygen.

4. When he said that the only solution to combating population growth is taking away voting and other rights from the third child of any couple. 

Because it’s the child’s fault, right? The child decided to come into the world on their own. 

Baba later added, “Then people will not give birth to more children, no matter which religion they belong to”, because a little bigotry is a must.

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5. When he said that homosexuality is a disease and it can be ‘cured’ by yoga. His quote:

Homosexuality can be cured through yoga. This will return a man towards natural sexual behaviour.

6. Hinting that eating meat is ‘unnatural’, when he said that all the carnivores can drink water with their tongues, so a human can/should eat meat only if they can do the same.

7. When he came up with a routine for students but forgot that a day has 24 hours. So much for all the memory-enhancing yoga.

Yoga is not what we have an issue with. It’s Baba Ramdev’s unflinching, and more importantly unscientific faith in it. That leads to most of these questionable claims. The rest are just him being weird.