Amid JNU row, Ramdev wants Deepika Padukone to hire him as adviser

PTI, Jan 14, 2020, 9:40 AM IST

Indore: Yoga guru Ramdev on Monday said Deepika Padukone should get herself acquainted with socio-political issues in the country before taking any “big decisions” and should appoint people like him as her advisers, who will give her a “fair insight” into vital issues.

Padukone has been criticized by some leaders and has been trolled on social media for expressing solidarity with the students on the JNU campus in Delhi who were protesting against the January 5 violence.

“Deepika’s efficiency as an actor is a different ball game. However, she should first study social, political and cultural issues and understand more about our country. After acquiring this knowledge, she should take big decisions,” Ramdev told reporters in Indore.

“I feel that Deepika Padukone should have persons like Swami Ramdev for the right piece of advice,” he quipped.

Strongly supporting the new citizenship act, Ramdev said that even those people who do not even know the full form of the CAA are using “foul language” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The prime minister and the home minister have said that the law was not meant to snatch citizenship but rather to grant it, but people are still igniting fires over it,” he said.

Ramdev went on to say that some people are creating chaos over the National Register of Citizens (NRC). “They are even raising slogans for ‘Jinnah Wali Azadi’. Where did this slogan come from? Such protests are tarnishing the image of the country and its institutions,” he said.

He also claimed that two crore people are living in India illegally.

“No country can be permitted to be used as a dumping yard. No illegal citizen should be allowed to live in India. If protesters opposing the proposed NRC have any alternative proposal, they should come forward with it,” he said.

Praising Veer Savarkar, Ramdev said the Indian freedom struggle was incomplete without him. “To tarnish the whole character of a person for just one or two things is an extremely shallow act,” he said.

When asked about Congress leaders terming Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as Indira Gandhi, he said, “If a grandchild emerges like her grandmother, then that trait fetches glory to the entire clan, and we will welcome it”.

He also said that the Opposition should be as strong as the ruling party for making democracy robust.