Yoga guru Ramdev's launch of TV channels in Nepal faces opposition
Kathmandu (PTI): The Nepal government will take action against yoga guru Ramdev's two television channels if it is found that they are being operated in the country without seeking permission and or following due procedures, a senior official said on Sunday.
Nepal's Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda' jointly launched the two TV channels - Aastha Nepal TV and Patanjali Nepal TV - in the presence of Ramdev and his close aide Acharya Balkrishna on Friday.
The channels are meant for broadcasting religious and yoga-related programmes.
However, Director General of Nepal's Department of Information and Broadcasting Gogan Bahadur Hamal said that two television channels have never applied for registration and did not follow any legal procedure to start them.
"We will take action if we found that Patanjali Nepal and Ashtha Nepal channels belonging to India's yoga guru Ramdev and Acharya Balakrishna have built infrastructures to broadcast the television programmes without fulfilling any legal formalities and even having registered," Hamal told PTI.
"We can't believe the statement issued by the Patanjali Nepal. We have formed an investigation committee to find out the truth. If they have made any preparation regarding operating the television channels from Nepal without our permission and without following due procedures, we will take necessary action," Hamal said.
However, Patanjali Yogpeeth Nepal said in a statement that it has already gone through a verification process for the television channels from Company Registrar's Office and the process has been initiated for further permission from the bodies concerned for operating the television channels.
We have not actually broadcast the television channels, we have only made technical preparation for the same. We have only inaugurated the television broadcasting office building, it said.
It said the television channels - aimed at broadcasting programmes relating to yoga, Ayurvedic education, culture, literature and spiritual philosophy - will start operating only after the due processes.
Commenting on the development, Patanjali Spokesperson S K Tijarawala said that the Aastha TV has a due license for downlinking in Nepal, which is valid up to 2024.
"Prime Minister Debuba inaugurated the trial run of two channels - Aastha Nepal TV and Patanjali Nepal TV - with country-specific content in the Nepali language on November 19, 2021. It has got 30 days time to get commercial approval for this trial run for full telecast, he said.
He said that full broadcast will start as per the due procedure after December 19.
"Information & Broadcasting Ministry of the Government of Nepal has already acknowledged the fact that this inauguration of the two channels - Aastha Nepal TV and Patanjali Nepal TV - is as per due diligence following the rules and regulations," he added.
Meanwhile, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists, an umbrella organisation of local journalists, issued a statement, saying the country's law prevents foreign investment in the media and the launching of television channels by the Patanjali group was a violation of the law.
"We want to remind the group concerned about the existing laws and rules that prevent operating TV channels under foreign investment," it said.
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BJP won't cross 50-mark in Bengal polls, says TMC in response to Shah's 'two-thirds majority' claim
Kolkata (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims about securing a two-thirds majority in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Senior TMC leader and state education minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah's remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
"Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose," Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.
"The BJP will not even cross the 50-mark in the assembly polls and suffer a humiliating defeat," Basu claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah claimed that the BJP would form the next government in the state with a "two-thirds majority in 2026".
"We will not only identify infiltrators, but we'll also drive them out. Bengal will have a new BJP government after April 15, 2026, as people have made up their minds," he said.
Shah also took a dig at the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of women's safety.
"It has been officially stated that women should not step out of their homes after 7 pm. What era are we living in? Are we living in the Mughal period?," he said.
"Mamata ji, this is a free India. Ensuring that women can step out safely whenever they choose is a constitutional right. Your government has failed to provide this basic security," he added.
Criticising Shah over his comments on women's safety in the state, senior TMC leader and minister Sashi Panja urged the Union home minister to visit Bengal during the festive season, like Durga Puja and Christmas, when thousands of women move about freely and participate in festivities.
"In case a stray incident happens, our administration takes prompt action to bring the culprits to book. Instead, the rapists of Bilkis Bano are garlanded by your party activists. Your party shields Kuldeep Sengar and Brij Bhusan, who were accused of committing atrocities. Amitji should not lecture on women's security," she said.
Panja accused Shah and his party at the Centre of coming in the way of the passage of the Aparajita Bill, which would have ensured exemplary punishment to rapists after conviction.
On Shah's claims about the industrial decline of Bengal, Panja said since 2011, investment of Rs 13.8 lakh-crore came to the state.
"Bengal occupies the second berth in the MSME sector as per the figures available with the Centre, and he is peddling falsehood about the industrial growth of Bengal," she said.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar also dismissed Shah's assertion that the BJP does not engage in temple-based polarising politics.
"Everyone knows the BJP campaigned on temple-masjid politics in both the 2019 and 2024 elections. This brand of politics will again be rejected by the people of Bengal," Majumdar said.
