Centre mulls ban on live telecast of Baba Ramdev's programmes in Aastha TV

Centre mulls ban on live telecast of Baba Ramdev's programmes in Aastha TV

HYDERABAD: Justice L Narasimha Reddy of the High Court on Tuesday sought the response of the central government to a petition that charged it with blocking live telecast of programmes being conducted by yoga guru Baba Ramdev. The petitioner contended that apart from teaching yoga, the baba was enlightening people about the ill-effects of black money and money stashed away in foreign banks. The judge was responding to a petition filed by B Rammohan Reddy, an advocate, who said he was aggrieved by the sudden cancellation of Ramdev Baba's early morning programmes being regularly telecast by Aastha TV channel. Because the Centre was not happy with the speeches of the baba on black money, it ordered the channel to stop live telecast of his yoga camps with effect from March 21, K Ashok Reddy, the counsel for the petitioner, told the court. "By following Baba Ramdev's instructions, I was able to do yoga exercises. Now, that facility is gone. My diabetic problem and other ailments were controlled to a large extent because of my regular exercises and now I fear they may return owing to my inability to do this exercise in the absence of any guidance from the baba," the petitioner said. When the judge sought to know the response of the Centre, Ponnam Ashok Goud, assistant solicitor general, assured the court that he would get back soon.