Baba Ramdev detained at London Heathrow for six hours

The airport authorities have not yet given reasons for the detention, they added.

Baba Ramdev landed at Heathrow airport terminal 5 ahead of attending a spiritual event in Glasgow, Scotland on Monday. He was wearing his trademark orange robe and sandals. He was accompanied by Leicester East MP Keith Vaz who said on Twitter: “At Terminal 5 with Swami Ramdev”.

Several hundreds of supporters thronged Heathrow airport on Friday to greet Baba Ramdev. But they claimed that their leader was detained because he arrived on a tourist visa instead of a business visa.

Eventually Baba Ramdev was cleared by the officials to enter the UK.

But his followers are not pleased. “Please make sure that Heathrow authorities amend their mistake and apologise publicly. Very disheartening for UK Hindus,” one of Baba’s supporters told Vaz via Twitter.

While another supporter said: “Disgusted about the ill treatment received by Indian yoga expert at Heathrow by custom officials.”

Vaz replied saying he was “very disappointed” to hear about the way Swami Ramdev was treated by UK border officials.

Baba Ramdev will be attending a function organised by the Patanjali Yogpeeth on the 120th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda next week.

The spiritual leader has more than 85 million supporters worldwide and has his own television channel in India.

In India, the guru campaigns and protests against issues such as corruption in the government and has initiated hunger strikes.  

A vocal advocate on Indian political issues, Baba Ramdev recently declared his open support for BJP and its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

The UK Home Office has declined to comment saying it does not comment on individual cases.