Why is Baba Ramdev so angry?

Political colonisation, economic colonisation, intellectual colonisation, tariff terrorism — none of these phrases were heard in any summit on global economy or politics, but from, hold your breath... Baba Ramdev. The same Baba Ramdev who teaches yoga, makes many Ayurvedic products under the name Patanjali, and does business worth thousands of crores.

The same Baba Ramdev who is also a Hindutva standard-bearer and sings paeans to Sanatan dharma. So why is he using such ponderous words? And looking angry while doing it?

Anyone who has heard Ramdev speak will probably describe his vocabulary as superficial at best, jocular at worst. But the Baba sure is speaking a different language now. So allow us to first tell you what he said, translated from Hindi.

"Well, we have seen political colonisation...economic colonisation too... and a new era of intellectual colonisation is ongoing the world over... in the meantime, since the rise of US President Donald Trump, he has created a new world record of tariff terrorism. The way he is scaring and threatening the world's developing and developed nations, he has shattered the limits of democracy.

"He is respecting neither the WTO nor the UN, he is running the World Bank and IMF as per his own wishes... he has increased the value of the dollar and reduced the values of the currencies of developing and poor countries, this is a kind of economic terrorism, this is tariff terrorism, he is taking the world to a different era...

"On the one hand there's Trump, on the other there's Putin, on another there is Xi Jinping and then there's Kim Jong Un... no one knows what he might do. In such circumstances, India will have to become a powerful country, otherwise some countries want to run the world according to their own will, so all of us Indians will have to unite and answer these forces."

Want to hear for yourself? The video evidence is in the X post right above you.

But the question remains, why is Baba Ramdev so upset as he spouts his apparently new-found wisdom? Why is he so angry? The answer is Patanjali and its products. More specifically, the consumption of Patanjali products in America and related markets.

Everything — from Patanjali salt to Kesh Kanti and Dant Kanti — is sold there. The nationalist Hindu diaspora associated with the 'Overseas Friends of BJP' buys the product and believes it has done its duty by religion. However, White people and Muslims buy these items too. And now, the prices of these products will increase for Indians living in the US, thanks to Trump's 'tit for tat' tariff on these products come 2 April.

The Baba's restlessness is justified. After all, Patanjali sells its products through various channels in at least 9,000 US locations. It also has a partnership with Future Group, which sells Patanjali products worth about USD 3.4 million every month in the American market. Patanjali has even registered with the US FDA. If Trump's tariff also applies to Patanjali, the Baba's losses will be crushing indeed.

So no surprises there. What is surprising is that Baba Ramdev has the courage to rebuke Donald Trump on the tariff issue, that too in words that display a grasp of geo-politics and economics — not to mention a worldview — that is enough to make your eyes widen in shock.

The Baba's anger is probably also prompted by the Indian government's as yet unclear stand on the tariffs issue. Whatever has been said so far has been said by Trump, who alternately says he will 'expose India' and India is 'looting' his country.

By the way, our commerce minister Piyush Goyal is just back from a visit to the US, with nothing to indicate that he managed a meeting with even a senior administrative official, let alone Trump, on the tariffs issue.

Interestingly, even as Goyal was trying to start a discussion on tariffs in the US by any means, the architect of Trump's tariff terrorism — US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick — was laughing off questions asked in this regard during a video call on an Indian TV channel. The gist of what he said during the call — tariffs are a retaliatory measure, but the friendship stays as it is.

So we now have a rough explanation for the Baba's agitation. But who is behind his geo-political knowledge? Because the viewpoint that he has presented on the tariffs issue is rare even among major political eminences, let alone BJP leaders.

Or have preparations begun to justify the tariffs?