Ramdev's moonwalking abs! Why you shouldn't have missed the Baba's latest press meet

Baba Ramdev, in a press conference which turned into one of the most weird press meets, made a statement on the uproar created in the Parliament over his ‘Putrajeevak Beej’ medicine. He alleged that a political controversy was being brewed from in order to defame Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, after Ramdev showed some of his products to the media to clarify there was nothing controversial about them, the press meet took a different turn when he decided to show his yoga skills by taking off his saffron shawl covering his upper body and performing some disturbing moves using his stomach.

Yes, you heard that right. As a half-nude Ramdev proudly began showing his yoga moves to the press.

As if it is a normal part of every news conference, Ramdev casually took his saffron shawl off to show off his upper body. For quite a while, we were wondering what exactly Ramdev was up to as he decided to do a Salman Khan in a news conference.

In a press conference meant to issue a clarification on some medicine, one wouldn’t really have expected Ramdev showing off his yoga moves.  If you thought you had seen everything, think again. Here is Ramdev’s stomach, moving back and forth in its full glory as Ramdev.

He also jokingly said that the media will now say that he was claiming that the youth will get six-pack abs if they practised his move. Ramdev also said false allegations were being made against him that he wanted to control the sexual desire of youth through this medicine.

Ramdev had earlier also showed several of his other products to the media to clarify that there was nothing controversial about them. To do this, he actually actually displayed packets of his other products on camera, describing each product as they were displayed.

Before the yoga guru began performing in front of the media, he criticised the Opposition for bringing up the medicine issue. “What does the Putrajeevak medicine have to do with PM Modi and BJP?” he said.

“Using a ‘fakir’ like me, they are trying to defame the ‘wazir’ Prime Minister Modi,” Ramdev 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 said.

Ramdev also said that the ‘Putrajeevak’ medicine had nothing to do with sex determination before birth. “The Putrajeevak medicine has nothing to do with sex determination of a child before birth,” he 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 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,” he said.

“I have always respected women,” Ramdev said.

Ramdev 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 said.

KC Tyagi reacted to Ramdev’s statement and said he will not apologise. “Why should I apologise to Ramdev? I still stand by my statements. Whether he changes his name or not, I will not stop protesting,” he told Times Now.

On Ramdev’s allegation that PM Modi’s was being maligned, Tyagi said, “I never even mentioned PM Modi in my statements. In fact, I had praised PM Modi for improving the sex ratio in Haryana. Ramdev is causing harm to that good work.”

Ramdev also said that instead of focussing on the issue of his medicine, the media needed to pay attention to the work done by him in Nepal. “I took responsiblity of 500 to 1000 children in Nepal. Why isn’t the media reporting that?” he said.

The entire controversy began on Thursday 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, with Opposition members terming it as illegal and unconstitutional and seeking stringent action against the manufacturers.

When the House met for the day on Thursday, KC Tyagi showed a a packet called ‘Putrajeevak Beej’, which he claimed to have bought from Divya Pharmacy that promised the delivery of a male child.

He also displayed a copy of the purchase receipt dated 14 April and said sale of such products by “the Brand Ambassador of Haryana” was illegal and unconstitutional.

Without naming the yoga guru, he asked “if the Government of India under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi approves of this.”

Amid protests from treasury benches, Jaya Bachchan (SP) took the packet and gave it to Health Minister JP Nadda.

Javed Akhtar also asked saracastically will the government inquire whether it is illegal to determine sex.

Several opposition members joined in condemning sale of such products and demanded action.

Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien said sex selection by a medicine or even pre-natal sex determination was against the law and the Constitution, but the Chair cannot do anything about it.

With Opposition members pressing for stringent action, Nadda said the issue is related to the Department of Aayush. “The Government will look into it and proper action will be taken.”

(With inputs from PTI)