How TV news turned a trade war into a Patanjali promo marathon.
It was a busy Wednesday for TV news anchors, and an even busier one for Ramdev’s PR calendar. By some yoga miracle, the Patanjali cofounder managed to stretch himself across ABP News with Chitra Tripathi, Aaj Tak with Shweta Singh, News18 India with Aman Chopra, and even India TV’s Saurav Sharma. All on the same day.
The subject was the renewed push for “swadeshi” after Donald Trump’s tariffs. Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had urged the nation to go local, and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch plus RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, among others, have echoed the call.
It’s a moment of reckoning. The share of manufacturing in the Indian economy is continuing to fall. In fact, as this Newslaundry piece explained, it’s at its lowest in the last nearly four decades. So if the hard questions can’t be asked on TV, what’s the easier way out?
Cue the man with the flowing beard and a never-ending Patanjali ad budget. Chase another boycott, just like TV’s previous response to China. Led by a man who had just last year called Trump a “Sanatan premi” and “nationalist”.
But so many prime-time interviews, same day, same theme? Even the most devout consumers of ayurvedic toothpaste might raise an eyebrow. After all, TV newsrooms have long served as Ramdev’s favourite yoga mat, where he has previously bent medical science out of shape, called allopathy a foreign conspiracy, and fretted about medical tourism. In between such pronouncements, there had been a run of Patanjali commercials to keep Patanjali’s coffers (and the channels’ ad slots) healthy. The Supreme Court had just last year closed contempt proceedings against the company for misleading ads.
Was Wednesday a spontaneous swadeshi media moment? Or synchronised deep-breathing?
Let’s take a look.
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