‘Milawati’ honey from Patanjali too? How Indian consumers are being fooled in the name of nationalism

It has been a decade since a phenomenon called Baba Ramdev stormed to the Indian Political and Social scene. It was the time when most of the other Babas were minting big money by selling spiritualism to unsuspecting sadhaks. Baba Ramdev, however, was different, here was a Sadhu who was media-friendly, was innovative and wished to mainstream Yoga. In a way, Baba Ramdev connected youth with Yoga like Kejriwal connected them with politics but the Kejriwal phenomenon was to fizzle out fast.

During his meteoric rise, Baba Ramdev and Patanjali Ayurveda Limited (Patanjali Ayurveda Limited), have seen both sides of the spectrum, from a glorious start to being a target of the Pseudo Seculars but Baba Ramdev didn’t limit his presence to just Yoga and Spiritualism but extended it to Politics. Then came the businessman Baba and the rise of Patanjali Ayurveda Limited disrupted India’s consumer space which was initially dominated by MNCs such as Colgate, Hindustan Unilever Limited, P&G, and certain large Indian corporates like Dabur, Godrej, Emami, etc.

However, in order to disrupt the trend and sell its own products, Patanjali used the tag of “authentic” and “desi” combined with Nationalism. Despite the many promises, the company mixes chemicals in its products just like any other company, branding its products authentic.

Centre for Science and Environment, an NGO run by veteran environmentalist Sunita Narain, has alleged that the companies like Patanjali, Dabur, and Zandu sell adulterated honey mixed with Chinese sugar. It has also alleged that the honey sold by them does not meet the standards of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

While the adulteration by other companies like Dabur and Zandu can be understood, Patanjali, whose USP is “pure products”, is unpardonable. For years, Patanjali has alleged that the foreign companies sell ‘adulterated’ products while it sells “desi products”, and that is why the consumers should prefer the company over the many multinational company products. But, given the fact it too is selling adulterated honey just like others, its promise of purity falls flat on delivery.

“It is a food fraud more nefarious and more sophisticated than what we found in our 2003 and 2006 investigations into soft drinks; more damaging to our health than perhaps anything that we have found till now — keeping in mind the fact that we are still fighting against a killer COVID-19 pandemic with our backs to the wall,” Narain said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Our research has found that most of the honey sold in the market is adulterated with sugar syrup. Therefore, instead of honey, people are eating more sugar, which will add to the risk of Covid-19. Sugar ingestion is directly linked to obesity, and obese people are more vulnerable to life-threatening infections,” added Narain.

Patanjali’s honey is as dangerous to people’s health as from other companies- from which the company claims to save people. Therefore, the company has not only betrayed the trust of the people but is practically cheating on them too.

Read more: ‘Stop advertising and publicizing,’ ICMR distances itself from Patanjali’s Coronil, Govt asks for details

The USP of Patanjali was offering Ayurvedic products and it claimed to use no chemicals. If Patanjali’s products are not better as far as quality is concerned, and it is cheating the consumers just like other companies, why would the consumers continue trusting Patanjali or Baba Ramdev?