Hindu-baiter Brinda Karat’s penchant for being in news for all the wrong reasons has been proved again.

Brinda Karat, a Marxist party leader, this week accused him of using human and animal bones in his medicines, provoking a strong denial from Ramdev and angry protests by his supporters.

Her spit-and-run tactics, a patent of Indian communists might well boomerang on her according to this report.

In what could be an embarrassing disclosure for CPI(M) Politburo member Brinda Karat, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss on Wednesday said one of the samples, supplied by her as Baba Ramdev’s product, was in fact an “animal material”. The laboratory result was obvious: “Dry tissue of animal origin.”

Conclusion drawn, tailor evidence accordingly. Her party’s boss who also happens to be her husband has provided her tremendous clout to pull off a stunt like this. Read below to understand the extent of crass manipulation and naked abuse of power that she’s carried out.

Ms Karat first levelled charges of presence of animal bones and human skull in Ramdev’s products six months ago, then went on to collect the samples herself, and compelled the Health Minister to get these tested bypassing the drug controller. The Health Ministry’s vague and inconclusive report came handy for her to malign the swami.

Ms Karat on Tuesday alleged before the media that the swami used animal bones and human skull in Ayurvedic medicines from his pharmacy. The Health Ministry has not attested the source of her samples. “We did not pick up these samples. Ms Karat gave us the samples, but we don’t know (where she got these from). She is an MP and I am duty-bound to get the samples tested if she found something objectionable about them,” Dr Ramadoss said. [..] The Health Ministry does not come clean on the politically-motivated conspiracy. It sent one set of samples to the Department of Veterinarian Methodology, University of Animal Sciences and Fisheries, Kolkata. The State is ruled by CPI(M), whose writ runs in the State’s administration and could have influenced the outcome of a politically-charged allegation.

The testing methodology raises more doubts. The Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Testing and Finger-printing did not find samples to contain material of human origin, the Minister said. Another Hyderabad-based laboratory, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, found the source to contain DNA of human origin. Yet another agency found two drugs to contain calcium and phosphorus, while another contained a mix of aluminium, silicon, calcium and ferrous material.

The Health Ministry did not make the report public, so it is not possible to know whether all samples were sent to all agencies or a few to some of the agencies, or whether all agencies employed common methodology for testing. The norms exist with drug controller, who was conveniently bypassed in the operation.

While repeating “we do not know where the samples came from”, he continued to assert that one of the samples contained “DNA of human origin” or “dry tissue of animal origin.”

The Minister has set a wrong precedent in disregarding established channels of drug sampling and testing. His Ministry seems to have willingly collaborated with the Left leader in maligning an individual.

The Communists grow restless when they see people and institutions doing good. The itch in them doesn’t subside until they tear it down. Swami Ramdev has over the years gained a steady following of millions of devotees all over India because his treatment has helped these followers. His main emphasis is Pranayaama and if practised regularly–I can testify from experience–it can bring about overall transformation. His call for flushing down Pepsi and Coke, proven health-damagers has been taken seriously by tens of thousands of people. Which explains his response that Brinda’s attack was motivated by MNCs. Whatever be the truth, Brinda’s allegations and the way her duplicity is exposed proves that Hinduism has few friends in the land of its birth.

Let’s for a moment assume Brinda is telling the truth. Why haven’t we seen her speak chillingly on the issue of banned drugs that’re still being dumped in India and prescribed by doctors? Why doesn’t she raise her voice during the Imrana issue? These are seemingly-unrelated issues but they all contain a common strand: hatred of everything Indian. The fact that Brinda Karat lacked the courage to even once term the Mullahs’ verdict as barbaric speaks volumes about her apparent concern for public health and safety in the present issue.

She picked on Swami Ramdev because she like a zillion others perceive Hindu gurus/religious figures as soft targets. Add to this the frustration of the Communists that despite 50+ years of spreading falsehood and fraud about Hinduism, people like Swami Ramdev continue to attract throngs.

Finally, there’s a question for Brinda Karat: if she so despises it, why does she choose to deck herself using all symbols and embellishments that are an exclusive gift of Hinduism?

Update: The Pioneer has an excellent write up on this issue, which to my delight uses what I’ve said: “spit and run.” An excerpt:

Most important, the letter does not mention that the samples had any trace of animal or human parts. Yet, Ms Karat, in true Communist style, has chosen to spit and run, confident that neither she nor the CPI(M) will ever be made accountable for such gross and defamatory misrepresentation. Baba Ramdev has been prompt in countering the allegations, but if he were to opt for legal remedy, we can be sure that the Left as a whole will unleash a venomous campaign, tarring him and his millions of followers for daring to challenge the Marxist version of ‘truth’.

Of course, there is the other possibility that Ms Karat will just refuse to turn up in court, feigning illness or indisposition. That example was set by Comrade Harkishen Singh Surjeet, who, after wilfully maligning actor Anupam Kher and hounding him out of the Censor Board, did not have the courage to respond to court summons in a subsequent defamation case.

However, the essential cowardice – a trait shared by all bullies – of our Leftists need not detain us. What is of concern to society at large is the Left’s, more notably the CPI(M)’s, nefarious campaign against Baba Ramdev’s attempt to revive indigenous and traditional systems of medicine which, in the long run, could dent the profit margins of multinational drug companies. Ironically, Ms Karat, while promoting her twisted perception of this nation and its traditions, has served a blow for the very MNCs whom her party misses no chance to berate.

Or is the Left’s anti-MNC rhetoric merely a ruse to mislead the masses? There may be more than a grain of truth in Baba Ramdev’s counter-charge; the history of Communism is replete with amazing tales of strange and apparently inexplicable alliances. It is, after all, an ideology preached with a forked tongue.

This paper believes that irrespective of the individuals involved, if the law has been violated, the guilty should be punished. But judgement cannot be pronounced by Ms Karat and her comrades who have little regard for facts and even lesser respect for truth. India is a democracy governed by the law of the land, not a Communist dictatorship ruled by commissars.