Baba Ramdev, India’s prominent Yoga guru and campaigner against corruption, was unexpectedly detained when he arrived at London’s Heathrow airport on Friday, the 20th September. He had visited the UK regularly in recent years and was the guest of honour at the celebrations for Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary. The young Asian woman immigration officer informed him he would have to wait. When he enquired after a half hour why he was being held up, she curtly told him to remain in the detention centre, failing to recognise her famed guest. His hosts waiting outside were growing anxious and Baba Ramdev phoned to inform them he was not being allowed to enter the country. After three hours he exercised the right, he was told he had, to demand the reason. None was forthcoming.
Persistent representations from his hosts failed to elicit any explanation from the immigration authorities. Legal representatives who arrived to offer counsel and inquire had no luck either. The Indian High Commission in London was contacted, but claimed it could not fathom why Baba Ramdev was being denied entry. It cannot be said they evinced undue interest over the issue, perhaps conscious of the Congress party’s abhorrence for Baba Ramdev and all his works. Eventually, after being detained for eight hours, Baba Ramdev was granted temporary entry to the UK, but required to return for a further interview the following day. His passport, the leaflets he was carrying and his personal diary were seized while Hindi and Sanskrit translators were sought to scrutinize them. The timing of the immigration interview he was required to attend coincided exactly with the commencement of the Vivekananda birth anniversary celebrations. It was evident they did not wish him to participate.
One of Baba’s devotees telephoned the Rt. Honourable Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester and Chair of the Home Affairs Parliamentary Select Committee, a position of authority pertaining to official police and immigration policy. He swung into action immediately, inviting Baba Ramdev to his home to discuss the situation. It is unprecedented to be invited to the home of a MP to confer about an issue raised by a member of the public. Keith Vaz, whose wife happens to be a leading expert on immigration issues, spent several hours on the phone to the authorities involved at Heathrow, the Home Secretary as well as 10 Downing, Street, the prime minister’s official residence. He berated the immigration authorities roundly and then unexpectedly accompanied Baba Ramdev to Heathrow airport. The immigration authorities suddenly became receptive and acceded to Keith Vaz’s demand that Baba Ramdev’s passport and the seized documents be restored to him immediately. All this only took five minutes and he was granted a two-year multiple entry visa on by the immigration authorities on their own initiative. Keith Vaz earned the profound gratitude of Baba Ramdev’s followers and British Hindus for his huge efforts and extraordinary courtesy towards their revered saint.
It transpired that a coded notation, visible to scanners used in airports, had been imprinted in Baba Ramdev’s passport by the authorities at New Delhi immigration control, as he was departing for the UK. Such a notation is reserved for terror suspects and drugs warlords and prompted an instant red alert when Baba Ramdev arrived at Heathrow. It would seem that the highest political authorities in New Delhi sought to disrupt Baba Ramdev’s travel abroad, to the UK and US, where he was participating in various events connected to Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary. It can only be inferred that they have become so fearful of his campaign against corruption and support for political change in India that they were prepared to sink to the lowest depth imaginable. No doubt Baba Ramdev’s support for Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial candidature compounded their rage, prompting disregard for all legal and moral norms. They were prepared to instigate the humiliation and possible arrest of a Hindu saint to perpetuate their corrupt hold on power and persist in their increasing disregard for the Indian Constitution. The prime minister himself and his patron, who has usurped political and constitutional authority in India, must both be personally held to account for this outrage against Hindus.
In the event, Vivekananda 150th birth anniversary celebrations in London’s Hounslow Borough were a huge success. The audience was amply rewarded for their patience, having waited many hours for Baba Ramdev’s presence. He delivered a pithy and thoughtful speech when he arrived at the closing minutes of the first day’s session. The Rt. Honourable Shri Venkiah Naidu also spoke at length about India and its future in the context of Swami Vivekananda’s aspirations for Hindu civilisation. On the following day, many speakers, from doctors to educationists and women’s rights activists, delivered inspiring talks about the future for India they volunteered to help promote. Baba Ramdev spoke at length about the parlous situation in India, suggesting some extraordinarily useful economic solutions that any out-of-the-box policy maker should take seriously. He counselled more modest aspirations for material advancement in India since European and American standards of living would be unrealistic for Indians to expect. Interestingly, he criticised the waste of resources, citing the huge land holdings of the Indian railways that could be used for economic development. Such imaginative ideas for a yoga guru were a surprise! He ended by giving a ringing endorsement of Shri Narendra Modi, much to the universal delight of the audience!
It only remains to reiterate the sense of outrage that pervaded the event in London at the treatment meted out to Baba Ramdev at the instigation of the Indian government and its supreme authorities. It seems that they will stop at nothing to retain political power. However, their egregious misconduct against opponents suggests anxiety that they are poised for consignment to the political wilderness indefinitely since comprehensive demolition of the Congress party appears to be in prospect. They and their countless venal retainers, not least in the media, have every cause to feel anxious that the good life, through prodigious illegalities, is destined to come to an unhappy end, with some facing prosecution for legion violations of the law. The Congress party itself has been seized by foreign interests, seeking to cause massive harm to India. One by one, national institutions are being compromised, first parliament through outright purchase of votes, followed by the courts and then India’s intelligence services. These traitors are now engaged in subverting India’s armed forces to gain temporary electoral advantage, by revealing the innermost secrets of the Indian State. One may legitimately infer that when the anointed her apparent identified Hindus as the principal terror threat in India, against all the evidence, he was speaking in deadly earnest to his possible patrons. This is why Hindus are being routinely fitted up for terror crimes known to be committed by Pakistani agencies. The assault against Baba Ramdev is only the latest in their many calumnies.
(Dr. Gautam Sen taught international political economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science for more than twenty years. He is currently President of the World Association of Hindu Academicians and Member of the Steering Committee of the World Hindu Economic Forum)
Dr. Gautam Sen taught international political economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science for over two decades.
Johnson Thomas K (@bharatjohnson)
The things that are happening in India under the evil Sonia Raj to quote a Malayalam saying is something that freezes up your brain. How can Baba Ramdev be insulted in this way? Even in my family which is Christian Baba ji is a hit with his yoga and that innocent saintly look. But Babaji is no one’s fool and he is as learned as any economist as he taught himself economics as he cared for India’s well being. Such a tragic article to read..
Dr. Gautam Sen
Johnson Thomas has commented sensibly and not brought in irrelevant issues like Baba Ramdev’s assertion that homosexuality can be cured in relation to the disgraceful episode that occurred at Heathrow. Nor has he questioned my probity and reliability in imparting information on what transpred at Heathrow airport that fateful day.
I happen to disagree with Baba Ramdev’s view on homosexuality and have written on this subject, in the press and private communications to individuals pronouncing on the subject. But, do bear in mind, however, wrong-headed his prescription to ‘cure’ homosexuality, it does not advocate, as most Muslim societies do, stoning to death or the existing Indian law on it, which would lead to criminal; conviction and incarceration. He does not support these absurd outcomes.
Historically, Indian society took a relaxed view of so-called ‘sexual difference’ and some of the unhappy prejudices are entirely imported and the legislation threatening appalling criminal sanctions, also originated in the colonial era, owing to the denunciation of homosexuality by the church. Sometimes it is best to just leave complicated issues alone, especially when the behaviour at issue causes no harm to third parties. It is the difference between values and tastes and homosexuality need not conflict with the former even if it does not appeal to the latter.
And let me say that I have personally checked with the immigration authorities at Delhi and they confirmed that, notations only visible on scanners, are indeed used by immigration worldwide routinely. The are intended to alert colleagues in other countries that a ‘person of interest’ has embarked. This is what was done to Baba Ramdev, by the crooks, looters and rascals who have been ruling India and should be put in jail, with hard labour. A notation was indeed made on Baba Ramdev’s passport to cause him grief on his travels. I met Baba for the first time on that visit and was mightily impressed by his intelligence, humanity and, also, sense of humour! A great man, a man of god, worthy of respect and affection, even from a nastik myself!
Neeraj Rao
A man who peddles “cures” for homosexuality isn’t somebody I’d use as a beacon of sanity.
Objectively Speaking
Neeraj Rao, Meanwhile, Hope you use condoms regularly. And lots of lube too. Take care brother.
Dr. Gautam Sen
Delhi immigration confirmed to me personslly that coded messages are imprinted in passports to alert their counterparts abroad that a person of interest is travelling.
Vigyananand Swamy
To be fair, if the immigration officer had a standing instruction to ‘suspect every person sporting a long beard’, how the fu*k would they know or tell apart a ‘Muslim bearded person’ from a ‘Hindu bearded person’? To them notorious terror-mongers ‘Abu Hamza’ & ‘Abu Qatada’ look the same as ‘Baba Ramdev’! And papers / books with non-English text must not have helped (Few immigration officers would tell the difference between Arabic / Deonagari script! Even then, they are bound to lean towards ‘more caution’!)
I have no doubt, had Baba travelled ‘dressed like an average international traveler’,
he would have passed through the UK immigration in 30 seconds!
“If one looks ‘queer’, one should expect to be treated like one!”
Vigyananand Swamy
1. An airport is not a place to mollycoddle celebrities!
2. If one looks ‘queer’, one should expect to be treated like one!
The reason that ‘coded notation’ story can’t be true is this:
Firstly, when and how such coded notation, –& visible to ONLY scanners used in airports,- could be “imprinted” on Baba Ramdev’s passport, & by whom? Surely Baba would have noticed if the Immigration Officer @ Delhi Emigration Desk “took the passport away’ for a few minutes”. Bullshit! They usually stamp the ‘departure date ‘ there & then, serving up to ‘40 pax per minute’!
Secondly, “If a person is a terror suspect, s/he must not be allowed to board a flight!
What if s/he commits the terror-act / high-jack on the Delhi-London flight?
Apart from the standard international co-operation against crime & terror suspects, drug-traffickers etc., it is impossible for one country’s immigration authorities to insinuate / instruct / order arrival-country’s authorities to detain somebody ‘just out of spite’.
Swamirajeshwaragiri
I strongly condemed this ugly abuse of our beloved babajiand thanks to those british MP whohelped our babaji.I again to say many thanks to him.
Suraj
Baba Ramdev should go to Court against Immigration officials at Delhi who out “Coded Notation” on his passport !
Arobindo Dutt
This incident is at the least deplorable if not criminal. A decent citizen of India must demand and obtain an explanation about the incident including the origin and the name of the individual / individuals responsible for the action. To me it is a blatant attack on the beliefs of all Hindus in India, supposedly majority population. A deliberate effort to marginalize the majority. It must not get unpunished, no matter who gets hurt.
The other side of the spectrum for centuries, Hindus have shown no back bone, as a result, Mugols ruled India for more than 700 years and the British more than 375 years. This cycle can only be broken if we Hindus unite, thing like Indians, instead of Bengalees, Gujaratis, Marathis etc India can be saved. I see India going under Muslim rules by 2075 ( they multiply like locusts) and the HISTORY WILL REPEAT ITSELF.
That’s all I have to say for now. GOD BLESS INDIA and the HINDUS.
sandeep
I posted my comment before Gautam Sen’s comment appeared on the site.
Just to confirm, the four sources for your dubious assertion about the invisible coded notation are :
– Baba Ramdev
– Baba Ramdev’s principal aide
– two of the other major organisers of the UK event
– someone knowledgeable and reliable in Delhi that Indian immigration
I’ll be generous, and assume that at least the ‘knowledgeable and reliable’ one is a valid source, and the information is true. Baba Ramdev can go ahead and sue the government. Would love to see how this pans out.
sandeep
For a site that calls itself IndiaFacts, I would like to ask for any actual evidence of the following –
“It transpired that a coded notation, visible to scanners used in airports, had been imprinted in Baba Ramdev’s passport by the authorities at New Delhi immigration control, as he was departing for the UK. Such a notation is reserved for terror suspects and drugs warlords and prompted an instant red alert when Baba Ramdev arrived at Heathrow”
Can anyone confirm if this was the actual reason ? Can passports actually be ‘imprinted’ with a coded notation by the authorities at New Delhi immigration control ? If so, why didn’t they just detain him in New Delhi, instead of this rather complicated plan ?
I’m sorry, but this isn’t a very good start for a site with an objective to “Take legal action against the purveyors of such falsehoods in extreme cases.” and “Counter these distortions with factual and well-researched rebuttals” , and so on.
Vigyananand Swamy
Agree! This story is a HOAX!
For someone like Dr Sen to build a story on PURE speculation is more shameful than a UK immigration officer just doing his job!
1. An airport is not a place to mollycoddle celebrities!
2. If one looks ‘queer’, one should expect to be treated like one!
The reason that ‘coded notation’ story can’t be true is this:
Firstly, when and how such coded notation, –& visible to ONLY scanners used in airports,- could be “imprinted” on Baba Ramdev’s passport, & by whom? Surely Baba would have noticed if the Immigration Officer @ Delhi Emigration Desk “took the passport away’ for a few minutes”. Bullshit! They usually stamp the ‘departure date’ there & then, serving up to ‘40 pax per minute’!
Ensures
Yes! Answer is purely technical and not judging or passing a verdict. Please read this purely from a technical perspective and not a verdict that the Assertion on India Facts is right or wrong.
Seen a commenter who did pretty well till the pitch was “Queered” with some inappropriate adjectives. Thought the commenter was logical, it is possibly flawed technically.
Having worked on design and implementation of the Airport security equipment including Passport/Travel Dox Scanners and Authenticators with associated software (used in Immigration counters, Hotels and Forex), imprinting is a definite possibility even without the Passport holder being aware (on the counter, not away)
Secondly, security systems software alerts work on various levels. Some alerts raised on arrival and some on departure. So it is quite possible, a departure is allowed but arrival alert is raised. Some examples of possible configuration – If the alert is for a Terror-suspect or Drug-running, I am sure it is configured to alert at embarkation counter. Asylum, deportation cases etc have only an arrival alert.
As an aside and additional information
In MicroChip(RFID) embedded Passports (not in India yet, but US/UK/EU etc already have this) – a user will not even realize that his/her data is getting scanned – a non contact reader does the job 🙂
Gautam Sen
The issue of the notation in Baba Ramdev,s passport seemed extraordinary and although he himself spoke of it at the meeting when he reached at its final minutes, I thought I had misunderstood him. I alerted my friends on high office in India, but told them to await further confirmation. It was then repeated to me by Baba Ramdev’s principal aide in the UK who is also an adviser to the British prime minister. I also asked if the information was correct to two of the other major organisers of the UK event and received unambiguous reaffirmation. I am also now told by someone knowledgeable and reliable in Delhi that Indian immigration does indeed use invisible ink to communicate confidential information to other national immigration services.
sharma
Sir. When Venkayya naidu was conferred title Rt.Hon’ble conferred. In your anxiety on the incident do not shower undue credentials.
Kultar Guleria
Very Good information ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, would Baba Ramdev file a suit against Delhi airport Immigration officials ???
ROMESH NADIR
The Congress Govt is capable of manipulating, stage managing and corrupting d uncorruptible too & can stoop low to any levels. SHAME-SHAME-SHAME
Brij Bhushan
File RTI to find out which govt servants were involved and put them behind bars. Confisicate their property.
Virendra kumar
It is disgraceful and shameful on the part of Govt of India. They can stoop low to any extentg
ved
This is a calculated attempt to subdue Baba Ramdev and thwart his campaign against corruption. Th e dirty tricks dept of Congress is active doing all sorts of unimaginable horrors against upright people in the country. they should be cconted for in 2014 elections.
hem prakash agarwal
save my india from present situation
JJAN
Didnt know there were idiotic supporters of Ramdev.
Hari
It is very easy to verify if any code readable by scanner is put on Sh. Ramdev Ji’s passport. So let us verify before we accuse Govt. of India.
Yogesh Sharma
What a shame,do we deserve to be called a democracy ?Soul of Mahatma must be in great pain finding no respect for values.We never know the truth in this country now From satyamev jayate we have come to jhoothmev jayate.God alone can save the country
susant
Ye log kitne harami he isse pata chalta he.
Ram Shen
Thanks. We all appreciate your article
umesh
It is an excellent piece of info that ( congress) govt can go to any level to cover their wrong doing – same day charges on mulayam singh taken back (gift for supporting congress), charges on YSR chief Jagan ready taken back (agreement between congress and YSR), same day terrorist responsible for 21 murders ran from mumbai court, same day VK singh and Ramdev is punished for supporting anti congress agenda – this is the level of dictatorship of congrees
vimalbomb
How heinous one can go down .But savior is stronger than killer proved again wello
Vivekanand Shenoy
This is along expected lines. How low can this government go? Shameful!
dr santosh
Good piece of valuable info n deplorable act of Congis speaks of their inherent insecurity. As promised pl guide or initiate a legal inquiry against this coded msg on visa.
ramu
while the treatment by the UK Border authority is condemned, it seems little hard to believe about the coding on passport by indian authorities.
this sounds so incredible. have never heard anything like this because the immigration for people going out of india merely puts a rubber stamp of date on the passport. no scope for any coding.
Madhulika Mitruka
Very good job IndiaFacts team. Please keep it up. Just a suggestion, we should think of ways of passing such kind of information to people who do not use internet or understand english and majority of indians do not do that. Thanks for ur efforts.
बाबा रामदेव के लन्दन मैं अपमान की असली कहानी – Dr Gautam Sen In Indiafacts | Patriots Forum
[…] सेन का पूरा लेख लिंक पर क्लिक कर पढ़ें . http://indiafacts.co.in/post7/ Author: Dr. Gautam Sen Baba Ramdev, India’s prominent Yoga guru and campaigner against […]
Lalit Bansal
First conclusive account of the incidence. Keep it up Indiafacts team!
ROshan Bhatia
An Excellent piece of information. Not only there is immediate & urgent need to change the current govt at centre, it is also mandatory to investigate every act of corruption,omission & commission & treason; and award exemplary punishment to every guilty soul.
Dr Rajeev Vatsyayan
Thanks very much to puting light on the reason behind this mischeif.
Hindu
Thanks for delivering the facts!
UPA govt will stoop to any level. They are defaming the key Indian personalities!
I have serious concerns about the escape of the terrorist from Mubai police! I sincerely hope Narendra Modi stays safe! I pray every day for his well being and safety! Call me selfish, but I am doing it for my nation!
Ankur
This is the level congres high command will stoop to for political gains.off with their head.
Srinivas Hebbar
It’s a matter of great concern that the CON party has now resorted to ‘below the belt’ tactics to ensure that people opposed to their brazen loot and corruption do not address audiences. Baba Ramdev should immediately call a press conference and let the nation know the levels to which this gutter party can stoop to. The faster these traitors are voted out, the better it is for the country
Yogesh Sharma
Pigs consider it as Rajniti ie politics whereas it is purely ‘aniti’ ie immoral act, because they enjoy gutter only
Arvind
Great piece thanks. 🙂
Sudhir
Good summarized information on all that happened during Ramdev’s detention at Heathrow.
However, it would be delightful if we can further confirm on the notation given by Indian Authorities. It might have been political now, but if such kind of markings/notations are in the hands of the people at Delhi Airport, it might cause more damage if they are used by mistake on common people. I hope Ramdev get’s proof and files a case against the authorities at Delhi Airport asking for explanation why they did that.
vinod
Good Start, is there no provision to be member of this group or any plans to have a discussion board for INF (India Facts) ?
mojo jojo
Great to know the facts. I didn’t know about this passport coding to generate red alert. Shocking to know about how criminal this government is, and how our media is the biggest slanderer on the planet.
ST
Its high time to remove this power corrupt leaders from power . Time for India to progress n Namo to shine
humms
chutye ye sab hindi mei likh na..
Abuse of Baba Ramdev in London | India Facts | తుమ్మెద
[…] http://indiafacts.co.in/post7/#sthash.w5woJC4J.uxfs […]
Ajay
Thanks for this useful information!
sushil
This conspiracy against Hindu has been going since ages my points of evidence.
After independence Pakistan becomes Islamic but India not declared as a Hindu nation
Every MP wanted to get a law on cow slaughter after independence but Nehru refuses to do so
During emergency Indira makes India a secular socialist country clearing the way for conversations
And since last 10years the conversions and illegal migration of Bangladeshi Muslims has been so rampant that in many states Hindus are in minority.
All northeast states have Christians as majority except in Assam where sadly Muslims will be majority soon
In south and orrisa due to conversion about 30% of Hindus have left or have been made to leave Hinduism
The Converted Christian don’t change their original names so no one has a chance to know that the officialswe are dealing with is a hHindu or Christian. Many high rank offices and portfolios are held by these converted ones with Hindu names. So no that everything action against Hindu appears to be secular.
Nikhil
Where did you get your stats from?also do you really want this country to be another Pakistan?at least have something oin hand, before talking absolute bullcrap…with a falling economy and a curropt polity, religion is hardly the great barometer for anything in this country..I wish he right wing ensures that people with no clue apart from baseless allegations are allowed to comment
varum
It is already on the way to become another porkistan. Didn’t u listen to the terrorist Owaisi speech.
vinod
Ask government to release the census data on religion.
Yogesh Sharma
Nikhilji ,kindly get yourself updated with what is going around,you are absolutely right when you say that religion is hardly the great barometer for anything in this country.. -but unfortunately that is being used in disguise under the over of so called secularism otherwise norms would not have been different for kashmiris expelled from their homeland only because they do not follow the religion of majority in state.Look around what has happened in UP where innocent children were butchered for chanting Vande mataram.It is high time we define secularism clearly and stop it as a tool for remaining in power. by dirty politicians.
Anuj
Nikhil Ji .. what Sushil ji has mentioned is nothing new, its been there for a long time. its just that due to social media its now being told in the open and people are reading more and more about it.
You can refer to books from a dharmpal and arun shourie which detail about the Aryan and Dravidian concepts created by the Britishers to confuse and divide the Indians and rule them. these concepts of divide / confuse and rule the majority has been adopted by the congress and improvised to have must lasting effect.
and if you believe and really understand hinduism, its not a religion its simply a way of life. and people traditionally living in the indus valley and indian subcontinent were known to be Hindus for the culture and way of life lived by them.
so dont get surprised when people report these things, try to know more about our own history and culture.
Jai Shri Ram
ganesh
Thanks for the details. We were very much concerned for knowing the reason .
Waiting for Ramdev Baba for his USA trip here. ….
Madhu
The date is not 12th September, it should be 21st September 2013, that’s when the Swami Vivekananda’s 150th birth anniversary celebrations took place in London.
Novnath patil
It is an excellent piece of info that ( congress) govt can go to any level to cover their wrong doing
T90
Wow, didnt see any media mentioning the reason! Doob maro doob maro culprits!
Vigyananand Swamy
This story is a HOAX.
1. An airport is not a place to mollycoddle celebrities!
2. If one looks ‘queer’, one should expect to be treated like one!
The reason that ‘coded notation’ story can’t be true is this:
Firstly, when and how such coded notation, –& visible ONLY to ‘scanners used in airports’,- could be “imprinted” on Baba Ramdev’s passport, & by whom?
Surely Baba would have noticed if the Officer @ Delhi Immigration Clearance Desk ‘took the passport away’ for a few minutes [to take out his invisible ink pen & write “detain this guy on suspicion of terrorism! He has been terrorizing us! We hate him!”].
Cowshit!
They usually stamp the ‘departure date’ there & then, serving up to ‘40 pax per minute’!
Hemant Prasad
40 pax per minute? Which immigration officer in the world has been able to serve 40 pax per minute? I would like to give all my hard-earned wealth to him.
Anyways coming back to point. No one knows the real story of what could have transpired except maybe the immigration officer in London, who ofcourse has no enmity towards Baba Ramdev and was only doing the duty. But that officer is the only one who can reveal why only after scanning Baba Ramdev passport she had to detain him.
Moreover the turns of events makes it definitely suspicious. If London immigration was really suspecting something wrong and called baba to questioning the other day, why was he let go without any questioning and within 5 minutes? Just because immigration realized that they have been passed wrong information by their counterparts in India and if they do not pay heed to the accompanying MP, the matter could spill out of hands?
arun
Oh Really!!
Ramdev has been to UK and US several times earlier he was never detained. He had even held yoga camps. In fact on one of his earlier vists he had been invited to the UK parliament and that was in the press.
So his detention without providing a reason is suspicious and there is no skullduggery that the current “rulers” are not capable of.