News Brief
Delhi High Court Slams Ramdev Over ‘Sharbat Jihad’ Remark, Calls It “Indefensible” In Case Filed By Rooh Afza Maker Hamdard
Delhi High Court (Pradeep Gaur/Mint via Getty Images)
The Delhi High Court has strongly reprimanded Patanjali founder and yoga guru Ramdev for his inflammatory “Sharbat Jihad” comments, allegedly targeting Hamdard’s iconic Rooh Afza drink, Hindustan Times reported.
Justice Amit Bansal, presiding over the case filed by Hamdard Laboratories, denounced the remark as “indefensible” and one that “shocks the conscience of the court”.
The controversy erupted after Ramdev, in a video circulated via Patanjali’s social media accounts, accused the sharbat-selling company, Hamdard, of using its earnings to fund “masjids and madrasas”, calling this “sharbat jihad”.
He contrasted it with Patanjali’s rose sharbat, which he claimed supports “gurukuls, Acharyakulam, Patanjali University, and the Bharatiya Shiksha Board”. “In the name of quenching thirst during summers, people drink cold beverages that are basically toilet cleaners,” Ramdev said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Hamdard, told the court, “This is a case which is shocking, which goes beyond disparagement. This is a case of creating communal divide, akin to hate speech. It will not have protection from law of defamation.”
Ramdev, however, defended his remarks to the media, claiming, “I haven’t taken anybody’s name, but the Rooh Afza people took ‘sharbat jihad’ on themselves… this means they are doing this ‘jihad’.”
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has sought an FIR against Ramdev under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and the IT Act, calling for action against what he described as attempts to incite religious hatred.
