Swami Ram Dev has become a household name today. Even before his Satygaraha campaign, he was easy to find on one channel or another, either teaching yoga or preaching about how yoga was the cure to every problem in the world. You could love him, or you could hate him, but you could not ignore him.

That, however, was not enough for Baba Ram Dev. He had bigger dreams, and so he started a campaign for making India corruption free. Now, whatever his motives may be, and whatever the end results of his campaign may be, it is a fact that his efforts have made the entire nation sit up and take notice.

But, a question that needs to be answered is how did Ram Krishana Yadav (Swami Ramdev’s childhood name) get to be so powerful that he could shake the entire government machinery with a single call to arms.

1. Yoga: To be fair, it must be admitted that Swami Ram Dev is greatly responsible for talking Yoga to every household.  There were many yoga instructors before Swami Ram Dev who tried to teach yoga to the common man, but the common man was too busy with is daily life to pay any attention. Then along came Swami Ram Dev and his unbelievable intestinal calisthenics that took the nation by storm.  Everyone wanted to do with their stomachs, what Swami Ram Dev did with his. If you try to recall the first image you saw of Swami Ram Dev, it most likely would be one with his stomach pulled in. In a nation, that is becoming increasingly obsessive with six packs and zero sizes, Swami Ram Dev seemed to be the solution for everyone’s weight problems.

2. Not just Yoga: Most yoga instructors, you must have noticed, are dressed in white. White, as we all know is a boring colour. Saffron, however, is a different matter altogether.  Saffron is a colour associated with the Hindu religion, and when Swami Ram Dev began teaching Yoga wearing saffron, yoga became attractive to the religious minded. This coupled with the fact that Swami Ram Dev began to be featured regularly on all the religious channels after 2003, added to the religious fervour associated with Swami Ramdev’s brand of yoga.

3. Controversies: No publicity is bad publicity, they say, and controversies are the best way to remain in the public eye. Swami Ram Dev’s popularity is a good example of this. The first major controversy in Swami Ram Dev’s life came when he compared soft drinks to toilet cleaners. While it won the heart of the common masses, it also made a few people upset. Then, one after the other, Swami Ram Dev was embroiled in a series of controversies, each making him more famous than the last, and each giving him an opportunity to become ore vocal than ever before. The main controversies associated with Swami Ram Dev are:

1. In 2006 Divya Pharmacy was accused of using human and animal bones in their medicines.
2. Swami Ram Dev then claimed to cure cancer and AIDS through Yoga.
3. Homosexuality, according to Swami Ram Dev, was a disease and instead of accepting it, the society should try to cure it, which could also be done through yoga.

4. Lack of Awareness, and Follower mentality: Without prejudice to any, it must be said that in India there is, even today, a lack of awareness about a variety of subjects among the masses, and there is a tendency to blindly follow what is in fashion. Baba Ram Dev and his yoga seemed to be what everyone was following, and therfore many others joined the movement blindly.

5. Corruption: Corruption is a menace whose existence is undeniable, and everyone, at one point of time or another, has been affected by it. So, anyone who seems to be fighting corruption is sure to get the support of the masses.  Swami Ram Dev by choosing corruption as his archenemy made a very wise choice, and one that has won him unconditional support from many quarters.  An example of how fighting against corruption makes a character loveable can be seen in the way people accepted Sanjay Dutt’s Gandhigiri in “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”. By fighting against corruption, Swami Ram Dev has become the common man’s friend because an enemy’s enemy is a friend.

A tipping point is defined as, “the point at which the build up of minor changes or incidents reaches a level that triggers a more significant change”.  All the above  reasons have resulted in the tipping point that Baba Ram Dev’s popularity has now achieved. Wouldn’t you agree?