Ramdev
Ramdev, also known by the prefix Baba, is an Indian yoga guru and businessman. He is primarily known for being a proponent of yoga and ayurveda in India. Ramdev has been organizing and conducting large yoga camps since 2002 and broadcasting his yoga sessions on various Indian TV channels. He co-founded Patanjali Ayurved and Patanjali Yogpeeth with his colleague Balkrishna in 2006.
Ramdev is aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party on some issues. In 2011–2012, he led protests against corruption in India and advocated for the repatriation of black money held in foreign banks. Ramdev has received criticism over his comments related to modern medicine, yoga, and ayurveda.
In April 2022, The Indian Express listed Ramdev as the 78th most powerful Indian.
Early life and education
Ramdev, originally named Ram Kisan Yadav, was born between 1965 and 1975 in a Haryanvi family in Alipur village of Mahendragarh district of Haryana. He was born to Ram Niwas and Gulabo Devi, who were illiterate farmers. He has an older brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. Since childhood, the left side of his face has been partly paralyzed perhaps owing to a congenital disability or a childhood illness.Ramdev initially attended a government school at Shahbazpur, Haryana until the eight standard. At a young age, Ramdev was drawn to the writings by Dayananda Saraswati that he quit the government school where the curriculum was a leftover of the education policy introduced by British politician Babinton Macaulay. At around the age of nine, he pursued study in Khanpur at a gurukula system. Ramdev attended Arsh Gurukul Mahavidyalaya from 1984 to 1989. At the age of fourteen, he moved to Kalwa to attend a gurukula and studied under one of his principal gurus, Acharya Baldevji. This is where he met Balkrishna as a fellow student. In Kalwa, he studied the Sanskrit language and literature, Hindu philosophical and religious texts, and traditions of yoga and asceticism. While living in Kalwa, he offered free yoga training to villagers.
After completing his studies in 1992, Ramdev traveled to Haridwar to stay at the Kripalu Bagh Ashram under the guidance of Shankardevi Maharaj. At Kripalu Bagh Ashram, he learned yoga from Acharya Karamveer, also an Arya Samaj. Ramdev took vows of renunciation, adopted sannyasa, and took the name Ramdev. Ramdev and Karamveer held yoga camps throughout India and sold chawanprash in Haridwar together.
On 5 January 1995, Balkrishna, Ramdev, and Acharya Karamveer founded Divya Yoga Mandir Trust, which was set up at the Kripalu Bagh Ashram in Haridwar. Under the Divya Yoga Mandir Trust, they offered yoga camps and established an Ayurvedic pharmacy.
Patanjali
Patanjali Ayurved
is a consumer packaged goods company, based in Haridwar, that was started by Ramdev and Balkrishna in 2006. The company is one of the highest grossing FMCG's in India. In FY22, Patanjali Ayurved posted revenues of Rs 10,664.46 crore. Balkrishna serves as the CEO of Patanjali Ayurved with 96% ownership and supervises its day-to-day activities, while Ramdev serves as the face of the company and makes most of the business decisions.Ramdev has advocated for Indian nationalism in the tradition of the swadeshi movement through the production and sale of Patanjali Ayurved products, and he has encouraged Indian citizens to reject multinational brands.
Members of Ramdev's family relocated to Haridwar and several have participated in his business ventures. His father has overseen some activities at Patanjali Ayurved. His younger brother Ram Bharat has been described as the company's de facto CEO.
Ramdev declared net worth of his personal assets at around "₹1,100 crore" in 2013.
The company has been accused of creating misleading advertisements about its products and conducting insufficient testing before launching products in the marketplace. Some products like amla juice have been banned from sales due to poor quality by the Indian government. Patanjali has also been surrounded by controversies regarding working conditions where Ramdev and Balkrishna are treated like gurus whose feet must be touched each time they enter an area. Factory workers are paid a salary of Rs 6000 per month while working 12-hour shifts, six days a week. They are also discouraged to ask for a raise as working at factory is considered "seva" to the cause.
In May 2018, Ramdev launched Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM cards in partnership with BSNL.
In March 2025, Patanjali Ayurved entered into Insurance sector by acquiring majority stake of Magma General Insurance Limited.
In November 2025, Baba Ramdev along with Patanjali Ayurved signed a MoU with Federal Government of Russia to promote health & wellness.
Patanjali Yogpeeth
Patanjali Yogpeeth is an institute founded for the promotion and practice of Yoga and Ayurveda. It has two Indian campuses, Patanjali Yogpeeth I and Patanjali Yogpeeth II in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. Other locations include UK, US, Nepal, Canada and Mauritius. Ramdev is the Vice-Chancellor of the Patanjali Yogpeeth. In 2006, Ramdev established a registered charity in the UK known as the Patanjali Yog Peeth Trust, which had the stated objective of supporting Patanjali Yogpeeth through the promotion of Ayurveda and pranayama yoga in the UK. To extend Patanjali Yogpeeth, he also acquired the Scottish island of Little Cumbrae. In 2012, Ramdev established the Divya Yog Pharmacy in Haridwar.In 2017, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal through its Delhi bench gave tax exempt status to Patanjali Yogpeeth.
In March 2018, 92 scholars of various different castes and backgrounds were initiated by Ramdev as sanyasis, or renunciants, at the Patanjali Yogpeeth in Haridwar. In 2022, Ramdev announced that sanyasis will serve as trustees of the Patanjali Yogpeeth and Divya Yoga Mandir. The sanyasis initiated by Ramdev studied Hindu scriptures for at least seven years at Patanjali Yogpeeth and a number of them have advanced degrees from universities.
Social and political activities
Social engagement
In 2006, Ramdev was invited by Kofi Annan to deliver a lecture on poverty alleviation at a United Nations conference. In October 2014, he was one of the nine personalities invited by the Prime Minister Modi to participate and promote the message of cleanliness when Swachh Bharat Mission was launched.Bharat Swabhiman
In 2010, Ramdev announced plans to form a political party. In 2011, he stated that he did not have political ambitions, and instead of forming a political party, he would focus on fighting against nationwide corruption. In 2014, Ramdev announced that Bharat Swabhiman would contest some constituencies in the general election of that year and form alliances with some other parties. It was at this time that he voiced his support for Narendra Modi to become the next Prime Minister of India, and he signed nine pledges with BJP leaders on institutional and cultural reforms. The Gujarat High Court allowed the Trust to hold yoga camps in 2014 as long as the camps were not political in nature.In 2014, the Bharat Swabhiman Trust, Divya Yog Mandir Trust, and Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust were under scrutiny by the ECI for allegedly funding election expenses for political parties.
Campaigns against corruption
In April 2011, Ramdev called on the government to add punitive powers to the Jan Lokpal Bill, a bill to appoint an independent body to investigate alleged government corruption. Relatedly, Ramdev announced he would go on an anshan hunger strike at Ramlila Ground in Delhi, on 4 June 2011, to pressure the government to root out corruption and repatriate black money. A week before the scheduled fast, the government set up a committee, headed by the chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, to suggest steps to curb black money and its transfer abroad. Talks continued between the two sides and, on 3 June, both sides claimed that a consensus had been reached on most issues. However, in the evening, Ramdev announced that he would still carry on with his hunger strike.During the first day of the strike, government minister Kapil Sibal publicized a letter from Ramdev's camp stating that the hunger strike would end if the government honoured its commitments. Ramdev took it as a betrayal by the government and hardened his position.
Shortly before midnight on the first day, a Delhi police spokesman announced that permission for the gathering had been revoked because permission was only granted for a 5,000 person yoga camp, and not for a protest of 50,000 people. At midnight, over 5,000 police officers disrupted the protest and used Tear gas shells and a lathicharge to drive away protesters. Ramdev tried to escape capture by disguising himself in women's clothes but was eventually arrested and flown back to his ashram in Haridwar and banned from entering Delhi for 15 days. On reaching Haridwar, Ramdev told reporters that his fast was not over yet and he would continue with his satyagraha civil resistance.
Police reported that 53 citizens and ten police members were injured and treated in hospitals. There were accusations that women protesters had been badly treated by the police, who alleged that they had objects thrown at them by protesters. One female protester suffered a spinal injury and later died in a hospital from cardiac arrest. In a statement, Ramdev highlighted her sacrifice and noted that they would honor her by fighting against corruption in India.
Aftermath of the Delhi protest
Ramdev accused the government of cheating him, and alleged that there was a conspiracy to kill him. Leaders of the BJP said that the police action had been a shameful chapter in the democracy of this country. BJP leader LK. Advani called it naked fascism. India's Supreme Court asked the government for an explanation.Ramdev was supported by civil society activists as well. Activist Anna Hazare called the crackdown a "strangulation of democracy". Hazare indicated that the action could have been compared to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre if the policed had fired ammunition. Thousands of supporters in other cities continued their fast in protest.
Ramdev ended his fast on the ninth day, after being hospitalised two days earlier. His decision to end the protest was welcomed by politicians from the BJP, Janata Party and Congress Party.