Brother, natives of Baba Ramdev's ancestral village give Yoga Day a miss

Yoga guru Ramdev may have led a record 54,000 people in Ahmedabad in performing asanas on International Yoga Day on wednesday but there were merely 40 people who performed yoga in his native village Saidalipur in Haryana. "Some 30 to 40 people performed yoga asanas in the Sant Ashram, located on the outskirts of the village," Saidalipur village Sarpanch (head) Deshpal Nambardar said.

But there were no women among those who performed the asanas, he added. "People performed yoga for about 90-minute under the guidance of a 60-year-old instructor Amar Singh, who holds a degree in the field," he said.

The village has a population of around 2,000. The International Yoga Day event held at Ahmedabad's GMDC ground entered the Guinness World Records Book with over 54,000 people, led by Ramdev, performing asanas. The number, however, was drastically lower than Ramdev's earlier claim of three lakh.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani received certificate of the record from the Guinness Book officials at Gandhinagar. The sarpanch said that people in the village perform yoga in their houses regularly. Though Ramdev tried to promote yoga but internal politics in the village has played a spoilsport for his initiatives. "Many villagers don't support Ramdev as they envy his success," he claimed.

Ramdev offered to set up an Acharyakulam - residential schools on pattern of gurukuls - on the panchayat land, but villagers refused to give him land, Ramdev's elder brother Devdutt said. Devdutt, 48, who is busy constructing his house, said, "I didn't performed yoga today." "I was busy in other works related to construction of my house," he said, adding those who have some health issues are doing yoga.

On being asked what he wants to say about his brother Ramdev on the yoga day, he said "Ramdev is not connected with the family now...today he is connected to the people of the entire country." "I am not dependent upon him (Ramdev)...last he visited the village in 2008," he said.

Ramdev, born as Ramkrishna Yadav in 1965, did his education from the village school before proceeding for a gurukul in Khanpur, Deshpal said.

Devdutt, who is building a new house near their 15 acre agriculture land, alleged "the village sarpanch is least bothered about health issues of the villagers." Devdutt and his wife Dhanmaya found nothing new in yoga day on Wednesday as it was life as usual for both of them. Most of the family of Ramdev, including his younger brother, had shifted to Haridwar.

Haryana observed international Yoga day on Wednesday in all the districts in association with Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth. In Mahendragarh, the main event was held in Narnaul, the district headquarters, while smaller event took place at Nangal Chaudhary block, where Saidalipur falls.