DRDO-Patanjali agreement: JD(U) says govt 'saffronising'

New Delhi, Aug 24: Janata Dal (U) today described as "appalling" the agreement between Yoga guru Ramdev's company and the DRDO and accused the government of carrying out "saffronisation" of the organisation and taking "political opportunism to new low".

"JD(U) demands to know under what circumstances such a joint venture between Ramdev's company and DRDO has been permitted and what were the norms adopted for such an alliance," JD-U general secretary K C Tyagi said in a statement.

"The party strongly condemns the saffronisation of an elite institution like the DRDO, which has produced one of the greatest Indians in the last century like late Bharat Ratna Abdul Kalam Azad, the former President of India," he said.

Tyagi described the agreement as shocking. "It is appalling and indeed shocking to see as how low the government has fallen to protect and award an uneducated self-proclaimed Baba with no formal education and allow his organisation, which produces dubious products and has been under scrutiny of various organisations," he said.

His remarks came a day after India's premier defence research organisation DRDO roped in Patanjali Ayurveda Limited to manufacture and market herbal supplements and food products developed by it.

DRDO yesterday entered into licensing agreements with Ramdev's company for transfer of Seabuckthorn technology based products developed by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).

DIHAR, a frontier laboratory of DRDO which is located in Leh with detachments in the strategic Siachen sector has pioneered cold arid-agro animal technologies for augmenting local availability of fresh food in the region. He alleged that the step takes "political opportunism to new low" and is an "affront" to Kalam.

PTI