The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Wednesday wrote to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) against yoga guru Baba Ramdev alleging him of making "unprovoked demeaning and prejudicing utterances against modern medicine".
"We are therefore seeking your indulgence as the statutorily authorized 'custodian' of modern medicine in the interest of the medical profession and medical professionals especially in the context of the material fact that self-styled Baba Ramdev through his ruthless public utterances is making a mockery of modern medicine and the professionals which tantamount to the mockery and ridicule of the life-saving protocols that have been worked out by the Indian Council of Medical Research and have been successfully put into operation that has resulted in unparalleled effectivity," wrote IMA in its letter to ICMR
"However, the quack Baba Ramdev in his public depiction is not only tarnishing it but also undermining the entire responsive and responsible contribution of Indian Council of Medical Research in such difficult times which is uncharitable and also defamatory and tarnishing in nature and character in taming the crook and the quack in the garb of Baba Ramdev from causing unilateral irreparable damage to the fair name and credit of the protocols prescribed by the ICMR, executed by the modern medicine professionals including humiliation that he has heaped on the Covid martyrs by insulting them in the most barbaric and beastly manner," the letter adds.
The controversy started with a video, floating on different social media sites, showing Ramdev terming modern allopathy "a stupid and failed science".
Last week, the IMA had appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take appropriate action under sedition and other charges against Ramdev for allegedly "spearheading a misinformation campaign on COVID vaccination".
The IMA had sent a legal notice to yoga guru Ramdev 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.
"IMA brings to the notice of our Health Minister, a video circulating in social media portraying, the celebrated Yoga Guruji saying that 'modern allopathy ek aisi stupid aur diwaliya science hai' (modern allopathy is a stupid and failed science)," the association had said in its statement.
On May 23, Ramdev had withdrawn 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.
According to the Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust statement, Ramdev was reading out a WhatsApp forwarded message in the video that has gone viral on social media.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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