Ramdev’s firm blames ‘mafia’ for ban on 5 products

Baba Ramdev’s Divya Pharmacy has blamed the “anti-Ayurvedic drug mafia” for the Uttarakhand administration’s new order prohibiting the company from producing five of its products due to their misleading advertisements.

On November 9, the Ayurvedic and Unani Licensing Authority asked the company to stop production of five of its products—Madhugrit, Eyegrit, Thyrogrit, BPgrit and Lipidom—besides submitting fresh formulation sheets and label claims for approval.

Divya Pharmacy has now claimed “involvement of anti-Ayurvedic drug mafia” behind such an action by the licensing authority because one relevant section in the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, has been stayed by the Bombay High Court and another section does not apply to Ayurvedic medicines. In addition, the formulation sheet is the same one as approved by the authority.

The company said that the September 9 letter was not made available to the firm, but it found a way to the media.

The company claimed to have obeyed the Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954, and other laws and rules in the promotion of its products. It said the licensing authority was informed in September why some of the provisions of the law did not apply to Divya Pharmacy products.

“Either the department should rectify its mistake and take appropriate action against the person who is involved in this conspiracy, or the Patanjali Institute will take legal action against the people responsible for this conspiracy and get them punished for criminal acts by recovering compensation for the damage caused to the Institute,” Divya Pharmacy, a subsidiary of the Patanjali Institute, said in a statement written in Hindi.

“It is clear from the information that has been received by the media that the involvement of the anti-Ayurveda drug mafia is visible in it. We will not allow this conspiracy to succeed in any way.”

The response from the Haridwar-based firm comes after the Uttarakhand authority asked Divya Pharmacy to halt production of the five products based on the complaint of a Kerala-based doctor, K V Babu, who sought the authority’s intervention, arguing that the company had violated the laws while advertising their products.