News Analysis India

Tag: Ramdev

  • Irresponsible: Maharashtra COVID task force member on Ramdev’s remarks against allopathy

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra COVID-19 task force member and senior doctor Shashank Joshi on Saturday termed yoga guru Ramdev’s comments on allopathy as wrong and irresponsible.

    Earlier in the day, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) took strong exception to Ramdev’s comments in a viral video where he said allopathy is a “stupid science” and lakhs of people have died after taking allopathic medicines.

    Remdesivir, Faviflu and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed in treatment of COVID-19, he further said.

    “It is wrong to make such irresponsible statements. Remdesivir helps in clinical recovery, but it is not a life- saving drug. It also does not affect any person (adversely). It is wrong to make such statements about allopathy,” Dr Joshi said, speaking to a Marathi news channel.

    “I respect Ayurveda or Unani systems of medicine,” he added.

    The Resident Doctors’ Associations of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and Safdarjung Hospital too condemned Ramdev’s statement and demanded “strictest steps” be taken against him.

    Citing a video circulating on social media, the IMA said Ramdev has claimed that “allopathy is a stupid science” and medicines such as remdesivir, faviflu, and other drugs approved by the Drugs Controller General of India have failed to treat COVID-19 patients.”

    “Lakhs of patients have died after taking allopathic medicines”, the association said quoting the yoga guru.

    Ramdev should be prosecuted under the Epidemic Diseases Act as “untutored” statements are “a threat to the literate society of the country as well as to the poor people falling prey to him”, the apex doctors’ body said in a statement.

    “The Union health minister (Harsh Vardhan) who himself is a practising modern medicine allopathic postgraduate and head of this (health) ministry, should either accept the challenge and accusation of this gentleman and dissolve the modern medical facility or boldly face and prosecute the person for his words of arson on the sovereignty of the country and book him under the Epidemic Act to save millions of people from such unscientific utterances,” the IMA said.

    It alleged that Ramdev is trying to take advantage of the situation and create a sense of fear and frustration among the people at large.

    He is doing this “so that he can sell his illegal and unapproved so-called medicines and make money at the cost of the public at large”, the association said.

    The IMA said Ramdev deserves to be prosecuted for disobeying and causing danger to the life of many by making them believe to not to take the advice of allopathy doctors.

    “The IMA demands and resolves if the minister (Harsh Vardhan) is not taking suo moto action we will be forced to resort to democratic means of struggle to propagate the truth to the common man and knock the doors of the judiciary to get due to justice,” it said.

    Taking people for ransom and winning business by defaming scientific medicine are unpardonable offenses, the IMA said.

    Citing Ramdev’s remarks it said such “untutored and unlearned” statements are a threat to society.

    In a statement, the Resident Doctors’ Association of AIIMS said it “vehemently condemns” the statements given by Ramdev.

    “On behalf of the medical fraternity, and all healthcare and frontline workers we demand strongly that strictest steps be taken against his inappropriate conduct at the earliest to prevent unrest amongst doctors and anxiety amongst the affected patients and their family,” the AIIMS’ RDA said.

    The government should ensure that such provocative videos propagating falsified information be admonished, it said.

    Ramdev should be booked under relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1987 and we demand that he offers an unconditional apology to the scientific community failing which we will be forced to call for a public protest condemning the act, it said.

    The RDA of Safdarjung Hospital said Ramdev’s statement must be considered as “hate speech”.

    “The statement of Ramdev Baba must be considered as hate speech and we request the appropriate authorities to book him under relevant sections of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1987.

    We demand unconditional public apology from Ramdev to allopathy and its practitioners,” it said in a statement.

  • Centre must take action against Ramdev for making unscientific statements against allopathy: IMA

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Union health ministry should take action against yoga guru Ramdev as he has misled people by making “unlearned” statements against allopathy and defamed scientific medicine, the Indian Medical Association said on Saturday.

    Ramdev should be prosecuted under the Epidemic Diseases Act as “untutored” statements are “a threat to the literate society of the country as well as to the poor people falling prey to him”, the apex doctors’ body said in a statement.

    Citing a video circulating on social media, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) said Ramdev is seen saying that “allopathy ek aisi stupid aur diwalilya science hai, (allopathy is such a stupid science)”.

    He also says that “lakhs of people have died after taking allopathic medicines”, the association said, adding that Ramdev claimed Remdesivir, Faviflu, and all other drugs, which were approved by the Drugs Controller General of India, have failed in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

    “The Union health minister (Harsh Vardhan) who himself is a practicing modern medicine allopathic postgraduate and head of this (health) ministry, should either accept the challenge and accusation of this gentleman and dissolve the modern medical facility or boldly face and prosecute the person for his words of arson on the sovereignty of the country and book him under the Epidemic Act to save millions of people from such unscientific utterances,” the IMA said.

    It alleged that Ramdev is trying to take advantage of the situation and create a sense of fear and frustration among the people at large.

    He is doing this “so that he can sell his illegal and unapproved so-called medicines and make money at the cost of the public at large”, the association said.

    The IMA said Ramdev deserves to be prosecuted for disobeying and causing danger to the life of many by making them believe to ‘not to take the advice of allopathy’ doctors.

    “The IMA demands and resolves if the minister (Harsh Vardhan) is not taking suo moto action we will be forced to resort to democratic means of struggle to propagate the truth to the common man and knock the doors of the judiciary to get due to justice,” it said.

    Taking people for ransom and winning business by defaming scientific medicine are unpardonable offenses, the IMA said. Citing Ramdev’s remarks it said such “untutored and unlearned” statements are a threat to society.

  • ‘Conspiracy against Hindus’: Religious figures criticise linking Kumbh with COVID-19 spread

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Several prominent Hindu religious figures on Wednesday criticised attempts to link the recent Kumbh Mela in Haridwar with the spread of COVID-19, saying it is an “insult” to people’s faith and traditions.

    They also claimed that Uttarakhand did not witness much of a rise in the infections at the time of the festival.

    Though the seers did not name any political party, their comments came a day after the BJP accused the Congress of preparing a ‘toolkit’ to target the Modi government over the second wave of the pandemic and linking the decision to hold the Kumbh with the surge.

    The Congress has rejected the charge and lodged a police complaint against senior BJP leaders, accusing them of attributing “fake” documents to it.

    “This is a big conspiracy to insult Kumbh Mela and the ancient Hindu religion by preparing such a toolkit. This is a big crime. They should stop insulting over 100 crore Hindus, and people should boycott and oppose such anti-Hindu, anti-India forces,” yoga guru Ramdev said in a message.

    Swami Avdheshanand Giri of Juna Akhara said Kumbh symbolises India’s values, culture and its sensibilities, and that attempts to link it with the COVID-19 surge are an attack on them.

    This shows petty-mindedness of people behind it, he added.

    Avdheshanand claimed that statistics showed Uttarakhand, which had hosted the Kumbh, had not seen a spike in COVID-19 numbers when it was held, while the tally rose in other states.

    The event was largely held symbolically after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a request, he said.

    Amid a COVID-19 surge in the country, Modi had spoken to Avdheshanand on April 17 while Kumbh was underway.

    The PM had urged him to ensure that there was only a symbolic participation.

    “We seers strongly condemn this disinformation campaign against Kumbh. Doing such politics is not good,” Avdheshanand said.

    Another religious figure, Swami Kailashanand Giri, said it was unfortunate that people were linking Kumbh to the pandemic surge.

    Usually people in crores attend the holy congregation but they did not come even in lakhs this time, and the entire exercise was mostly symbolic, he added.

  • Maligning image of Kumbh, Hinduism with toolkit’s help a ‘political conspiracy, says Ramdev

    By ANI
    HARIDWAR: Yoga Guru Ramdev on Wednesday alleged that there is an attempt to maligning the Kumbh and Hinduism with the help of a toolkit and termed it as a “political conspiracy”. This comes a day after BJP accused Congress of designing a toolkit to malign Kumbh as a “super spreader” COVID-19 event.

    Ramdev, in a video message, urged the people to boycott “such power” who are against the country. “Maligning the image of Kumbh and Hinduism with the help of a toolkit is a political conspiracy. I request people, who are politicising the matter, do whatever you want to do but do not disrespect 100 crore Hindus. This is disgusting. I urge people to boycott such power who are against the country,” the Yoga Guru said.

    Earlier in the day, Acharya Mahamandaleshwar of Juna Akhara Swami Avdheshanand Giri Maharaj urged people not to politicise the Kumbh. He alleged that the culture, rituals, faith and traditions of the nation are being tarnished in a “well-planned manner”.

    The BJP had on Tuesday alleged that the toolkit has instructions for social media volunteers of Congress to call the new COVID-19 mutant as “Indian strain” or “Modi strain” against the World Health Organization (WHO)’s instructions.

    The first Shahi Snan of Kumbh was held on March 11 on the occasion of Mahashivratri, while the second and third were held on April 12 and 14. The last snan took place on April 27. The duration of the Kumbh has been shortened to 30 days this year due to the ongoing COVID pandemic.

  • Ramdev says ‘very difficult’ to predict next PM

    Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has said it was “very difficult” to predict the country’s next Prime Minister in view of the current political situation.

    Noting that he was “not focussed” on politics, the 53-year-old yoga guru said he would not support or oppose anyone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

    Talking to reporters at the airport here Tuesday, Ramdev said, “We can’t say who will become the next prime minister (after the 2019 general elections).”

    “We do not have a political or religious agenda… We want to make a spiritual India and world… Not Hindu India or communal India,” he added.

    His comments come days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a big blow as it lost power in its earlier ruled Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

    The Congress won convincingly in Chhattisgarh, less so in Rajasthan and edged out the saffron party in a cliffhanger in Madhya Pradesh.

    Referring to the Ayodhya dispute, Ramdev claimed that the BJP would lose trust if the ‘Ram Mandir’ was not built in Ayodhya now.

    The yoga guru was in the state to attend a national executive meeting of Bharat Swabhiman in Rameswaram.

    On Bollywood actor Naseeruddin Shah’s remarks on mob violence in Uttar Pradesh, he said, “accusing India of religious intolerance amounts to degrading the country’s pride”.

    The charge that country was religiously intolerant was tantamount to “ungratefulness, disrespect and treason,” he added.

    Apparently referring to the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, Shah had said that at many places in the country the “death of a cow is being given more importance than the killing of a policeman”.

    The veteran actor had also expressed anxiety over the well-being of his children, who he said, have not been brought up as followers of any particular religion.

    The violence, which occurred earlier this month over an incident of alleged cow slaughter, had claimed two lives, including that of a police inspector.