Bharat Swabhiman: A biased article in Guardian

• Bharat Swabhiman: A biased article in Guardian

• http://www.diigo.com/06e06

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  • TV swami offers a cure for all ills

    
    

    Yoga evangelist has millions in his thrall, but critics claim devotees are being duped
  • Every morning, the swami appears on television chanting prayers and explaining that ailments, physical and mental, can be treated by what looks like little more than sharp intakes of air and painful-looking body contortions. More than 20 million tune in each day in India alone. The television guru, who is also known as Baba Ramdev, is also available across the world - including Britain.
  • Born into a farming family in north India he retains a common touch, making rustic jokes in chaste Hindi. The guru combines this with a gentle manner and a knack for public relations.
  • In a country where renunciation is seen as almost a divine virtue, Ramdev announces that he has long ago given up sex - because "it is not love".
  • Mohammed Abbas, The president of the Indian Medical Association, said that although yoga is "good exercise, it cannot be used to make ridiculous claims about curing HIV or cancer. This is false hope for ill people."

  • Asked whether he has run any tests to analyse treatment, he offers a book of testimonies from disciples convinced they have been cured of cancer, cirrhosis and kidney failure.

    Some have called for the swami to be prosecuted for "peddling quackery of the highest order".

    "Claiming such absurdities is against the law," said Sanal Edamaruku of the Indian Rationalist Association. "The magical remedies act of 1954 was brought in to stop people such as Baba Ramdev from promoting dangerous ideas about curing cancer and the like.