Yoga guru Ramdev has triggered fresh controversy by using the term “sharbat jihad” in a viral video, where he claimed that a company selling sharbat is using its earnings to build mosques and madrasas, while promoting Patanjali’s rose sharbat.
The video was shared by ‘Patanjali Products’ on Facebook with a caption in Hindi, which, when translated, read, “Protect your family and innocent children from the poison of toilet cleaner being sold under the name of ‘sharbat jihad’ and cold drinks. Bring home only Patanjali sharbat and juices.”
Ramdev is seen in the video criticising soft drinks, saying they are like toilet cleaner being consumed in the name of quenching thirst during summer. He refers to this as an “attack” and compares it to a form of poison.
“In the name of quenching thirst during summers, people drink cold beverages that are basically toilet cleaners. On one side, there’s the attack of toilet-cleaner-like poison, and on the other, there’s a company selling sharbat, which uses the money earned from it to build mosques and madrasas. That’s fine, it’s their religion,” Ramdev says in the video.
He adds that drinking that company’s sharbat — apparently referring to Hamdard’s Rooh Afza — helps fund the construction of mosques and madrasas, while choosing Patanjali’s rose sharbat, he claims, supports gurukuls, Acharyakulam, Patanjali University, and the Bharatiya Shiksha Board.
Ramdev coins ‘sharbat jihad’, compares it to ‘love jihad’ and ‘vote jihad’
Describing this as “sharbat jihad”, he likens it to “love jihad” and “vote jihad”, and says people must protect themselves from it.
“But if you drink that sharbat, it supports the construction of mosques and madrasas. On the other hand, if you drink Patanjali’s rose sharbat, it supports the setting up of gurukuls, Acharyakulam, Patanjali University, and the Bharatiya Shiksha Board. That’s why I say, just like there is love jihad and vote jihad, there is also sharbat jihad. So, you must protect yourself from this sharbat jihad,” Ramdev adds.
The video shared on Facebook has attracted over 37 million views, with one user commenting, “His business is slowing down, that’s why he has launched a new product.”
Earlier, Ramdev was embroiled in controversy after the Supreme Court directed him to apologise for false claims that Patanjali products could “cure” serious illnesses.
Many users criticised Ramdev on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) over the “sharbat jihad” remark, with some saying a “new jihad” has entered the market. One user wrote, “Which direction is the country moving in? Lala ji comes up with Sharbat Jihaad now.”
