IMA challenges yoga guru Ramdev, asks him to participate in open debate

New Delhi: After yoga guru Ramdev made defamatory statements against allopathy and “defaming” scientific medicine, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Uttarakhand on Friday challenged him for an open debate on a public platform in the presence of media.

IMA Uttarakhand President Dr Ajay Khanna in a letter to yoga guru Ramdev called his statement rash, irresponsible and selfish.

“This is to inform you that IMA UA State through its state office request you to constitute a team of qualified and duly registered Ayurvedacharyas from Patanjali Yogpeeth to have a one-to-one discussion with a team of doctors of IMA UA State which has already been constituted by the state office. This one-to-one panel discussion shall be closely supervised and recorded by the electronic and print media which shall also be invited in this panel discussion,” IMA letter reads.

The letter further stated that Ramdev and his aide Balkrishna can also join the team of Ayurvedacharyas but only as spectators because they have not sent the qualification to the state office of the IMA.

“The responsibility is on you to decide the date and time of the above proposed healthy discussion, however, the venue shall be decided by us,” it said.

“The above proposal is for your kind consideration and implementation at the earliest to ensure that the deadlock and the confusion created by you shall meet its end. From this day onwards the onus lies on you regarding the above issue,” the letter said.

The letter further said that this activity shall ensure the harmony between Allopath and Ayurved to be restored again as it was in the past but was disturbed for these couple of days by your rash, irresponsible and selfish statement.

In another letter, IMA also demanded details of hospitals where he has claimed that Patanjali medicines have been used.

Earlier on Wednesday, IMA 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”.

“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 in a letter to PM Modi.

The IMA on last Saturday sent a legal notice to 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.

On Sunday, 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”.

According to a Haridwar-based Patanjali Yogpeeth Trust statement, Ramdev was reading out a WhatsApp forwarded message in the video that has gone viral on social media.