IN a statement issued by the state secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on May 25, strongly objected to the decision of the Haryana government to purchase one lakh medical kits of the Patanjali company. 

The BJP-JJP government of the state is misusing the state exchequer. The kits being purchased for crores of rupees in the name of Corona patients is disputed and has no sanction at all as a medicine, the statement lamented.  All this is being done for providing commercial benefits to the Patanjali company. This can be seen as a glaring example of crony capitalism, the secretariat asserted. 

The CPI(M) said that it is well known that the BJP has strong ties with Patanjali co-founder, Ram Kishan Yadav alias Baba Ramdev.  He has been continuously getting all possible business patronage and encouragement from the central and the state governments.  It is with this patronage only that Patanjali has emerged as a large corporate company, the CPI(M) pointed out.

Last year, it publicly claimed of making Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of Covid-19 without any statutory approval, which is legally considered as a criminal act of impropriety for commercial gains. Similarly, now he has made extremely objectionable comments against allopathy treatment and doctors, which is not only objectionable but also weakens the fight against the Covid pandemic, the Party stated.  At the very same time, the BJP-JJP state government has taken this decision to protect and benefit its favourite crony, Ramdev.

The Party demanded that this purchase decision be scrapped immediately and the state exchequer be used to expand and strengthen health facilities to protect the people from Covid-19.