BJP govt in MP orders ban on Ramdev's 'Putrajeevak' drug until its name is changed

The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday ordered medicine dealers not to supply Ramdev’s controversial ‘Putrajeevak Beej’ drug until its name is changed, according to reports. [caption id=“attachment_2228748” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ramdev’s ‘Putrajeevak’ medicine was banned in Madhya Pradesh. PTI[/caption] The controversy surrounding the drug began when a demand to ban a purported ayurveda product by yoga guru Ramdev’s Divya Pharmacy that promises a male child was made in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, with Opposition members terming it as illegal and unconstitutional and seeking stringent action against the manufacturers. When the House had met on Thursday, KC Tyagi (JD-U) had showed a packet called ‘Putrajeevak Beej’, which he claimed to have bought from Divya Pharmacy that promised the delivery of a male child. Without naming the yoga guru, he had asked “if the Government of India under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approves of this.” Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan had also opposed the sale of the drug. A day later, on Friday, Ramdev, in a press conference, had claimed that the drug had nothing to do with sex determination of a child before birth and alleged that a political controversy was being brewed from in order to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “What does the Putrajeevak medicine have to do with PM Modi and BJP?” he had said. “Using a ‘fakir’ like me, they are trying to defame the ‘wazir’ Prime Minister Modi,” Ramdev had said. “In the Parliament, they should raise issues of black money, corruption and earthquake relief… Instead, they focus on such a non-issue.” “People are making a controversy out of a non-issue,” he had said. “The botanical name of this medicine is ‘Putranjeeva roxburghii’, it’s called ‘Putrajeevak’ in Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Telugu and Bengali. What do I do if the medicine is named ‘Putrajeevak’?” He had further said that the name of the medicine will not be changed in the future. “If a lot of misconceptions are spread about the medicine, we will add a disclaimer to the medicine that it has nothing to do with getting a boy or a girl child,” Ramdev had said. He had also slammed JD(U) leader KC Tyagi and actor Jaya Bachchan for making statements against him. “JD(U)’s KC Tyagi should apologise for his remarks… Jaya Bachchan should know more about the issue before making a statement,” he had said. On the other hand, on the same day, Food and Public Distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan had said that the Union Health minister has asked people to look into the matter of the drug. “It is a gender issue. If you are asking for only a male child, it is illegal. The health minister has asked to look into the matter,” Paswan had said. (With inputs from PTI)