It appears that Yoga guru Baba Ramdev is in the midst of yet another controversy after #BoycottPatanjali and #ArrestRamdev have started doing rounds on Twitter. It all happened after Baba Ramdev called the supporters of renowned activists Periyar EV Ramaswamy and BR Ambedkar “intellectual terrorists”.
Hashtag #BoycottPatanjali, #ShutdownPatanjali, #ArrestRamdev and #Patanjalikabhahiskar have started trending on the microblogging site and there seems to be no end to the bashing faced by FMCG major Patanjali.
Moreover, the latest trend #patanjalikabhahiskar had generated over 60,000 tweets by 6 pm on Tuesday with many users swearing never to use the brand’s products.
Activist Dilip Mandal on Tuesday urged Twitterati to trend #Ramdevbharatchoro. Further, anti-caste activists and members of the organisation such as Bhim Army were reported to have staged protest in front of Patanjali stores across the country.
Many voices on Twitter, including MK Stalin, president, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) condemned the attack on Periyar (and Ambedkar).
Many even asked Ramdev to take back his words.
“I strongly condemn this targeted attack on Periyar and our ideology by right-wing forces. The DMK will defend the Dravidian ideology against all such oppressive forces,” Stalin said.
While Yog guru did not issue any clarification on the comment, he was seen re-tweeting those who supported him and Patanjali. One section of Twitter were seen supporting Ramdev and floated hashtags — #ISupportRamdev and #WeSupportPatanjaliProducts.
Business-wise, FY 2019 did not prove to be very strong for Patanjali. The Haridwar-based firm clocked Rs 8,330 crore turnover for 2018-19, a meagre 2.4 per cent jump than Rs 8,136 crore it had posted in 2017-18.
During its glory years, between 2012-13 and 2016-17, Patanjali outpaced the industry growth rate by a huge margin.
The last two years had been rather difficult for the firm, which aims to become the largest player in the FMCG sector. Its operating revenue fell from Rs 8,964 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 8,136 crore in 2017-18.
While analyst believes Patanjali will have a tough time ahead amidst strong competition from MNCs and home-grown player, the company on Tuesday said it has achieved a revenue of Rs 3,562 crore in April-September 2019-20, the highest ever in the first half of any financial year.
Patanjali reported a revenue of Rs 1,793 crore in April-June and Rs 1,769 crore in July-September in this fiscal against revenue of Rs 937 crore in June quarter and Rs 1,576 crore in September quarter reported in 2018-19.