Dehra Dun : Ever since a report appeared in a section of the media that Jasoda Ben, who BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had mentioned as his wife, was on the char dham yatra and was currently lodged at one of the locations of Baba Ramdev near Rishikesh here, the police and the media have been making frantic efforts to locate her.
Though Baba Ramdev has categorically denied that the retired teacher was at one of the locations in the holy city, but so strong were rumors that even the police teams went looking for her. The SHO of Lakshman Jhoola police station Amarjit Singh is reported to have said that he had sent a team at the concerned places for the security of the lady, but she was not found at any of the mentioned spots.
According to the reports Jasoda Ben is on the char dham yatra and was currently lodged at one of the locations of Baba Ramdev above the Neelkanth Temple near Rishikesh. The location is an eight room structure at a herbal park of the yoga guru, which is sometimes used by his close confidante and ayurvedacharya, Balkrishna for conducting research on certain herbs.
Even as Baba Ramdev who is in Hoshiarpur denied any such reports of the 58-year-old retired teacher being lodged at any of his ashrams or locations, the same was repeated by Acahrya Balkrishan, who said that the reports were nothing but imaginary. He added that the Patanjali had no knowledge of any plans of Jasoda Ben visiting any of their ashrams or wanting to stay there.
He admitted that pilgrims from Gujarat as from other parts of the country visit their ashrams and even stay there and hastened to add that it was no crime for Jasoda Ben to undertake a pilgrimage to the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines of this small mountain state and if she so desired to stay at one of the ashrams of Baba Ramdev.
And regarding the structure near Neelkanth Temple, he clarified that it is no ashram, but two sections in a building where researchers doing research on herbs stay and do their research work. Even the two persons who were staying at the place denied that any group of pilgrims had come to stay at the place, and particularly no woman pilgrim had come there.
And wile initially it could not be confirmed that Jasoda Ben had indeed come to the region, but there were further rumors that she is likely to come with a group of pilgrims from Gujarat to Hardwar on April 28 and then is likely to proceed towards Badruinath and Kedarnath.
A journalist with over 40 years of experience, Jagdish Bhatt was Editor, Hill Post (Uttarakhand).
Jagdish had worked with India’s leading English dailies, which include Times of India, Indian Express, Pioneer and several other reputed publications. A highly acclaimed journalist, he was a recipient of many awards
Jagdish Bhatt, aged 72, breathed his last on 28th August 2021 at his Dehradun residence.
