Ramdev's 'sharbat jihad' remark shocks court's conscience: Delhi HC

The Delhi high court on Tuesday (April 22) observed that yoga guru Ramdev's purported remark of "sharbat jihad" on Hamdard's Rooh Afza shook its conscience and was indefensible.

Ramdev had recently described the popular drink Rooh Afza as ‘sharbat jihad’ and accused the company of funding madrasas and mosques, prompting legal action from Hamdard.

Justice Amit Bansal, who was hearing a plea by Hamdard National Foundation India against Ramdev's Patanjali Foods Ltd, said, "It shocks the conscience of the court. It is indefensible. You (counsel for Ramdev,) instructions from your client otherwise there will be a strong order".

Sharbat jihad

"If you drink that sharbat, madrasas and mosques will be built. But if you drink this (referring to Patanjali's rose sharbat), gurukuls will be built, Acharya Kulam will be developed, Patanjali University will expand, and the Bharatiya Shiksha Board will grow," he had said at the launch.

The counsel for Hamdard apprised the court that recently, while promoting Patanjali's gulab sharbat, Ramdev claimed that the money earned from Hamdard's Rooh Afza was used to build madrasas and mosques.

Later, Ramdev defended his remark and said that he did not name any brand or community.

Creating communal divide

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Hamdard, said the case goes beyond disparagement and it was a case of creating "communal divide".

"This amounts to hate speech. He says it is a sharbat jihad. He should carry on his business. Why is he troubling us?" the senior lawyer said.

As the counsel who had to argue the case for Ramdev was not available, the court would take up the matter again.

Not the first time

This is not the first time, Baba Ramdev is caught up in a controversy. In the past two years, the company and its founders have encountered multiple challenges due to their advertisements.