Ramdev Rachets Up His Rancor

File under: The Siddhi of PR and Gurus Clockin' Dollars

Yesterday Swami Ramdev roared with his trademark rancor at his imagined enemies, the multinational drug companies and the more rational among Indian politicos, who he claims are belittling his brand of ayurvedic medicine. You know, the kind that comes complete with powdered human skull and dog testicles.

We suspect this may have something to do with the fact that he got an innocent kid arrested – a kid he allowed on his own private helicopter – for being a terrorist a few days back. Rather than admit the mistake and thus reveal his own paranoia and/or perhaps resentment at having to field some tough questions from the kid, Ramdev just goes on another offensive to deflect the attention away from this latest imbroglio.

Like most bigtime gurus and politicians in India, Ramdev taps into the mythologically-inclined Hindu right as a way to cloak his own insufficiencies and that of his "medicines." It's always someone else's fault, for he's just a pure, innocent yogi, one who just happens to be fleecing millions with his repackaging of India's traditional medical arts for his own fame and profit.