Dalal objects to Ramdev as Haryana brand ambassador

Senior Congress leader Karan Singh Dalal on Thursday objected to the decision of the BJP government in Haryana to make yoga guru Ramdev as its brand ambassador.

Dalal, while speaking on the issue of women's safety during the discussion on the governor's address in the state assembly, asked how could Ramdev be made the state ambassador while his pharmacies sold medicines to help bear male child. "It is evident from the medicine sold by the Divya Pharmacy, owned by Baba Ramdev, which sells ayurvedic medicine called Putrajeevak Beej," he said.

On this, health minister Anil Vij objected to Dalal's statements, saying that Ramdev had been made the state ambassador for promotion of yoga, naturopathy and ayurveda and the state welcomed it. Regarding the controversial medicine, Vij said, he had got the matter looked into and there was no mention on the medicine that it helped bearing male children. According to Divya Pharmacy, it only helped in curing infertility, he added.

The House saw a ruckus when Dalal took a dig at Vij's marital status (Vij, 61, is a bachelor) and said that he would not like to argue with Vij as the latter might not be knowing the difference between the birth of a girl or a boy. Vij retorted by saying that e he could well explain the difference, but would not like to do in the House and quickly added that confusing and misleading people was what Congress MLAs had always been doing.

He further quipped, "I would arrange some 'churan' (medicinal powder) for them so that they could start listening to people". Vij also referred to the yoga sessions attended by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda which helped him keep his diabetes under control.

The arguments and counter-arguments seemed to reach a flashpoint when education minister Ram Bilas Sharma chipped in questioning the "gyan'' (wisdom) of the Congress MLAs and said that the Punjab and Haryana high court had even passed strictures against former speaker Kuldeep Sharma. Hitting back Kuldeep Sharma, a qualified lawyer, boasted of his qualification and questioned the education of Ram Bilas, saying that the latter did not even know the difference between a court order and strictures.

The clash between the two members went on for quite some time as they took personal digs at each other's qualification and caliber of understanding, with the level of their voices rising statement after statement. The slugfest ended only when Dalal turned his discussion the diversification of crops and recruitment issues in the state. rajesh.moudgil@hindustantimes.com

HT REPORT MENTIONED

Dalal specifically made a reference to a Hindustan Times news report, dated January 28, 'Ramdev's pharmacies selling medicines in Haryana to help bear male children'.