Udupi : Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev said his statements on Periyar E V Ramaswamy were being manipulated to mislead dalits on social media.

The hashtag, #ArrestRamdev, begun trending on Twitter on Sunday after Baba Ramdev in a recent TV interview had declared that the followers of social activist Periyar E V Ramaswamy were following intellectual terrorism. Ramdev, who is conducting free five-day Yoga camp in Udupi, said that he had given ‘Sanyasa Deeksha’ to even Dalits and had never discriminated people on the basis of their cast or religion.

He said the followers of Periyar were highly pessimistic.

“Periyar had declared that people who follow gods are fools and those who worship gods are offenders. But we in India have the great culture of spreading positivity and believe in god. The divisive forces existed then and also now.”

He said that soon after hashtag, #ArrestRamdev, started trending in Twitter, another hastag, #Salute_Baba_Ramdev, had appeared on the micro-blogging site.

Responding to allegations that Patanjali Ayurveda business flourished due to the false promises made to the people, Ramdev declared that there was no necessity for a ‘Fakir’ (religious ascetic) to mint money.

He said that an army of 500 scientists approve the Patanjali products. About the hashtag, #BoycottPatanjaliProducts, trending on Twitter, Ramdev said that it had become routine to fight such evil forces.

The Bhim Army, an organisation of Dalits, had sought an apology from Ramdev for describing Periyar followers as ‘intellectual terrorist’. However, Baba Ramdev stood firm on his earlier statement and said Indo-Aryan propaganda preached by Periyar would never succeed to divide the nation.

On All India Muslim Personal Law Board seeking a review against the SC verdict on Ayodhya, he said that it would create disharmony in the society.

Their decision exposes the Muslim community’s lack of respect to the country’s highest apex body and also their reluctance and intolerance towards their Hindu brothers, he said.