Among the believers

On the other hand, Ramdev’s critics are quick to point out that in the garb of ayurvedic medicines, he is not following the legally-prescribed norms for medicine makers. The essence here is that because the formulations have not faced the rigour of testing that allopathic drugs do, the medicines are part of witchcraft. Here, the error lies in not accepting that ayurveda has its own rigour, its own methods, its own science.

Touchingly, at the heart of both these oppositions, and amid all the noise of pitching one political heavyweight against another, supporting this cause or that, lies a simple yet profound word: Faith. Neither the supporters nor the detractors of the Ramdev phenomenon are being fair. So shrill is Brinda’s pitch that believers have shut their ears to reason. So widespread is Ramdev’s morning presence that believers can’t hear a word against him.

Both camps have their reasons for a faith that’s fast turning intolerant. The openness, the wideness, the cold voice of reason itself is getting narrower, defining itself within a boundary so restricted that no new word, new thought, new idea can get through. The Ramdev controversy is merely a battlefield and at war are not Brinda or Ramdev, but faith, and like all good faiths, each side is crying out: my faith is better than yours. The loser: Truth.