My Opinion

I had once visited Swami Ramdev’s plant where his Patanjali brand products are manufactured.

‘Aaonla’ fruits were unloaded from trucks, then washed and pressed, and juice was packed in bottles, without being touched by human hand.

On Thursday, when Ramdev announced that his Patanjali venture’s turnover has crossed Rs 10,000 crore, I was reminded of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi said a few days ago in Haridwar, while inaugurating Ramdev’s Ayurvedic medicinal plant park. Modi had said, once Ramdev decides to do something, he achieves it by his sheer will, grit and determination.

Swami Ramdev is a Yoga guru, who has studied Ayurveda. He is a brand ambassador for his own venture and he knows the tricks of marketing and advertising. Last year, when his Patanjali venture’s turnover reached Rs 5,000 crore, he had announced he would achieve double the figure in the very next year, and he did.

On Thursday, Ramdev promptly announced he would achieve double of what his venture achieved this year, but I feel, the yoga guru has understated his claim. I would not be surprised if his turnover reaches Rs 50,000 crore next year. The secret of his success lies in the purity of his products.

His customers are satisfied and they spread the message about his products through word of mouth. Therein lies his real strength.

The spate of bank robberies in Kashmir Valley in the last few days points towards one thing: terrorists are fast running out of money. Their ‘supply line’ from Pakistan seems to have broken. Those funding the terrorists seem to be in trouble. But there is one more thing that needs to be underlined. The terrorists, out of frustration, have resorted to killing Kashmiri Muslims. The Hizbul Mujahideen outfit on Tuesday claimed it killed 2 bank security guards and three policemen while trying to rob a bank, but, late in the evening, it corrected its press release to say that it did not kill the security guards. Both the security guards were Muslims, and with their deaths, they leave behind families with four Muslim orphans and two widows. Clearly, terrorists have no sympathy for either Kashmiris or Kashmiri Muslims. Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is right when she says that terrorists in the valley are destroying both Kashmir and Kashmiris.

There is continued anger among the people across the country over the beheading of two of our jawans. Our hearts cry out for the next of kin of those jawans killed. But, now is the time to keep our anger and emotions under control, and steel our determination to teach the enemy a lesson. Prime Minister Narendra Modi understands the anger and emotions across the nation, he also feels the pain in the hearts of people, but the decision to take revenge against the enemy must be left to our army. The Prime Minister cannot reveal such strategy on camera, or on social media. I have full confidence in our army. Pakistan will be taught a lesson soon, but as our Vice Chief of Army Staff said on Tuesday, the army will choose the place and timing on its own.

There is nationwide anger and revulsion over the beheading of two of our martyred jawans by Pakistani army soldiers near the Line of Control on Monday. The anger is justified. No civilized army on earth ever beheads the bodies of dead soldiers. It runs against all canons of human behaviour, leave alone the Geneva Convention. The time is now ripe for a swift retaliatory action. I do understand that neither the top echelons of the government, nor the Defence Minister is going to share with the world at large, what they intend to do in retaliation. But the nation expects action, and fast.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force has done a commendable job in nabbing 23 persons on charges of cheating customers at several petrol pumps in Lucknow on Thursday. Our reporter says, chips had been inserted in nearly 99 per cent petrol pumps of Lucknow to cheat customers. The man who inserted the software chips had come from Delhi. I think this could be the handiwork of an inter-state gang. UP is not the only state where this nefarious activity was going on. There could be other neighbouring states like Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. Police in these states must coordinate with UP STF and nab the petrol pump owners cheating the customers.