Ramdev Incurs Uma Bharti’s Wrath After Comparing Her Ganga Work With Nitin Gadkari’s

Bhopal: Yoga guru Ramdev was at the receiving end of Union minister Uma Bharti’s anger for allegedly belittling her work as the head of Ganga Rejuvenation Department of Ganga conversation project in comparison with that of her successor, Nitin Gadkari.

Gadkari replaced Uma Bharti as the Union Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation minister last year in September. Following the Cabinet reshuffle, Bharti was shifted to Drinking Water and Sanitation Ministry.

In a TV interview in London, Ramdev had claimed that files were stuck during Bharti’s tenure, which, he claimed, was not the case after Gadkari took over.

Shooting off a letter to Patanjali group founder Ramdev, Bharti said despite a change in portfolios both she and Gadkari were working in tandem on the project to cleanse the holy river. No comparison is possible in terms of speed as the project earlier was in planning stage and is now being executed, she said.

Bharti also heaped praises on Gadkari, saying he is doing a commendable job and that the project would be completed by 2019.

She added that as the minister for water resources, she worked hard on river linking and the Ganga mission, and that even Gadkari has praised her. “As far as the change of ministry is concerned, it was between me and the Prime Minister. None knows anything about this," she said.

“Comparison between ministers appeared odd to me. I am a huge fan of Nitin Gadkari ji and feel proud of his association," she said.

The fiery leader further said that while make the remarks publically, Ramdev was not sensitive to her pride and self-respect.

Calling Ramdev the messiah of yoga and swadesi andolan in India, Bharti advised him to choose his words cautiously.

On the backfoot, Ramdev took to Twitter to placate the minister. “I consider her my sister and did not intend to hurt her self-respect. I only meant to highlight administrative hurdles which plagued the Ganga rejuvenation mission initially. Her association to river Ganga, religion and nation is commendable."