A two-year old video showing Patanjali Ayurved Ltd co-founder and CEO Balkrishna on a hospital bed has gone viral in the backdrop of raging allopathy-ayurveda controversy which has Yoga guru and Patanjali's other co-founder Ramdev in its centre.
BOOM found that the viral video is from 2019 when Balkrishna was admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh after he developed health complications on August 23.
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The video has been revived at a time when Ramdev is already at loggerheads with the Indian Medical Association over his alleged comments on allopathy medicine and its treatment for Coronavirus cases. The IMA had on May 22 sent a legal notice to Ramdev asking him to recall his words.
According to news reports, Ramdev withdrew his statement after health minister Harsh Vardhan on May 23 called his statement on 'allopathic medicines 'extremely unfortunate' and asked him to withdraw it'.
It may be noted that the Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) had called on doctors across the country to mark June 1 as a Black Day against Ramdev's remarks on allopathy.
Meanwhile, the 11-second-long viral clip shows Balkrishna on a a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over his face. While Ramdev is also seen in the video, no one is wearing a mask.
A Hindi caption with the viral video translates to 'When Balkrishna of Patanjali fame fell ill, baba Ramdev took him straight to a hospital instead of giving him any Patanjali product. Earlier he was saying pull oxygen from the air and today Balkrishna was put on oxygen support first'.
(Hindi: पंतजलि के बालकृष्ण की तबियत बिगड़ी #बाबा_रामदेव सीधे हॉस्पिटल लेकर गए ना ही पंतजलि का कोई भी प्रोडक्ट दिया जब तो बोल रहे थे हवा से ऑक्सीजन खींचो ओर आज ऑक्सीजन पहले लगा दी है)
View the video below and click here for an archived version.
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The video has been shared on Twitter with similar claims.
Another caption with the same video on a Facebook post translates to 'A rare video. When Patanjali's acharya Bal Krishna suffered a heart attack then he wasn't given divya arjun kaath, neither was he asked to perform anulom-vilom, he was straightaway taken to AIIMS!! And today swami Ramdev is making fun of doctors and allopathy, abusing them...this is shameful'.
(Hindi: अति दुर्लभ वीडियो जब पतंजलि वाले Acharya Bal Krishna को दिल का दौरा पड़ा तो ना तो उन्हें दिव्या अर्जुन क्वाथ दिया गया और ना अनुलोम विलोम करवाया , लेकर भागे सीधा AIIMS !! और आज Swami Ramdev डॉक्टरों और एलोपैथ को गाली दे रहे , मज़ाक़ बना रहे हैं , ये शर्मनाक है)
Fact Check
BOOM did a keyword search on YouTube with the Hindi words 'आचार्य बालकृष्ण हॉस्पिटल में भर्ती'. We found a video uploaded on a YouTube channel on August 26, 2019 which had the same clip which is viral now. The title of the video, in Hindi, translates to 'An exclusive video of acharya Balkrishna suffering in pain when he had a close shave with death'.
(दर्द से तड़पते Acharya Balkrishna का EXCLUSIVE वीडियो, जब मौत बेहद करीब थी !)
Taking cue, we did a keyword search and found other reports from 2019 which mention about Balkrishna being admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh in 2019.
A report published in India Today on August 23, 2019 stated that Balkrishna was admitted to AIIMS Rishikesh after he complained of chest pain and giddiness. Another report published in Zee News stated that Balkrishna suffered from food poisoning after eating a sweet offered by a devotee. He was first taken to Bhoomanand hospital in Haridwar from where he was referred to AIIMS Rishikesh.
BOOM also found a tweet from Ramdev's spokesman SK Tijarawala from August 23, 2019 reiterates that Balkrishna had suffered from food poisoning.
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