New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev has withdrawn his objectionable remarks against the usage of allopathy in treating coronavirus shortly after Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan rebuked his statement as “extremely unfortunate”, saying it can break the morale of healthcare workers. Reacting to the controversial video that triggered a row on social media platforms, Baba Ramdev had earlier clarified that he had “utmost regards” for doctors and was only reading messages forwarded on WhatsApp.
Ramdev, who said that he “regrets” any feelings that were hurt due to his remarks, also said that practitioners of allopathy should refrain from making objectionable remarks against Ayurveda. In his reply to the Health Minister, the Patanjali Ayurved founder asserted that Indian medicines and Ayurveda “should not be mocked as pseudoscience”.
“I received Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan’s letter, in respect of this, I withdraw my statement, regrettably putting an end to this whole controversy of the struggle of medical systems…” Ramdev tweeted with a letter on behalf of the Patanjali Trust.
माननीय श्री @drharshvardhan जी आपका पत्र प्राप्त हुआ,
उसके संदर्भ में चिकित्सा पद्दतियों के संघर्ष के इस पूरे विवाद को खेदपूर्वक विराम देते हुए मैं अपना वक्तव्य वापिस लेता हूँ और यह पत्र आपको संप्रेषित कर रहा हूं- pic.twitter.com/jEAr59VtEe— स्वामी रामदेव (@yogrishiramdev) May 23, 2021
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Sunday called yoga guru Ramdev’s statement on allopathic medicines “extremely unfortunate” and asked him to withdraw it. “The statement disrespects the corona warriors and hurt the sentiments of the country. Your statement on allopathy can break the morale of healthcare workers and weaken our fight against COVID-19,” he said.
Vardhan said that allopathic medicines have saved lives of crores and comments that it is responsible for the death of lakhs is “extremely unfortunate”.
Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust in its statement issued on Saturday had said, “it is clarified that the truncated version of the video is totally out of context of what is sought to be conveyed by Swami jee.” This comes after Ramdev’s statement irked the Indian Medical Association (IMA) to demand strict action against the yoga guru for allegedly misleading people by making “unlearned” comments by describing modern medicine as “stupid science”.
The IMA quoted Ramdev’s comment claiming medicines such as remdesivir, faviflu, and other drugs are “responsible for the death of lakhs”. They also sent a legal notice to Ramdev seeking ‘written apology’ and ‘recall of statements’ by him.