Yoga guru Ramdev and the Indian Medical Association (IMA) are engaged in a bitter battle between the effectiveness of Ayurveda and Allopathy.
On Wednesday (May 26), the Uttarakhand division of the IMA sent a Rs 1,000-crore defamation notice to Ramdev for his recent statements on allopathy doctors and medicine.
In the notice, IMA said if the yoga guru does not post a video countering the statements given by him and tender a written apology within the next 15 days, then a sum of Rs 1,000 crores will be demanded from him. IMA Uttarakhand unit President Dr Ajay Khanna said Ramdev does not have sound knowledge and is engaging in rhetorics."I am ready for face-to-face with Baba Ramdev. Ramdev does not have a lot of knowledge about allopathy, despite that he is against allopathy and the doctors associated with it. He is making rhetorical statements," said Dr Khanna.
The IMA also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take appropriate action under sedition and other charges against Baba Ramdev for allegedly "spearheading a misinformation campaign on COVID-19 vaccination".
The IMA said that Ramdev falsely claimed that 10,000 doctors died despite taking two doses of vaccination.
Following this, netizens started trending #ArrestRamdev on social media.
A new video of the yoga guru surfaced on Wednesday in which he can be seen saying that no one has the courage to arrest him after Indian Medical Association (IMA) called for his arrest on sedition charges. According to Times of India, the Yoga Guru said in Hindi, “Khair, arrest to unka baap bhi nahi kar sakta Ramdev ko (Anyway, even their father can't arrest Swami Ramdev).”
IMA also lauded the Prime Minister for his effort to address the importance of vaccination in all public addresses. The apex body of Indian doctors appealed to Prime Minister Modi to give motivation for vaccination in the forthcoming "Mann Ki Baat" episodes.
"At this juncture, we are pained to bring to your kind notice, two videos where Ramdev, owner of Patanjali Ayurved, is seen inter alia to be claiming that 10,000 doctors have died in spite of taking both the dose of vaccine and that lakhs of people have died due to allopathic medicine.
“He has also claimed that `Allopathy Ek stupid Aur Diwaliya Science Hai` and that thousands of people have died from taking allopathic medicines for the treatment of COVID-19 related symptoms. These videos are circulating virally on social media," IMA claimed.
For the unversed, on Sunday (May 23), Ramdev withdrew his statements on allopathic medicine after receiving a strong-worded letter from Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan who called his remarks "inappropriate".
"We do not oppose modern medical science and allopathy. We believe that allopathy has shown immense progress in surgery and the lifesaving system and served humanity. My statement has been quoted as part of a WhatsApp message that I was reading during a meeting of volunteers. I am sorry if it has hurt anyone`s sentiment," wrote Ramdev in his letter to the Union Health Minister in Hindi.
The IMA on Saturday (May 22) had sent a legal notice to the yoga guru over his alleged statements against allopathy and "defaming" scientific medicine. However, the Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust has denied allegations by the IMA that Ramdev has misled people by making "unlearned" statements against allopathy and defamed scientific medicine.
According to a Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust statement, Yog Guru Ramdev was reading out a WhatsApp forwarded message in the video that has gone viral on social media.
(With ANI inputs)
