Nothing against Ramdev: IMA to consider withdrawing police plaints if Yog Guru takes back remarks

`We have nothing against yoga guru Baba Ramdev. His statements are against vaccination for COVID-19. We think his statements could confuse people, may divert them,` IMA national chief Dr JA Jayalal said.

New Delhi: The Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday (May 28, 2021) said that it will consider taking back police complaints lodged against yoga guru Ramdev and also a defamation notice sent to him if he withdrew his remarks against COVID-19 vaccines and modern medicine.  

The IMA national chief Dr JA Jayalal said that by targeting the modern system of medicine vis-vis the pandemic and treatment for it, Ramdev was actually questioning the government.

"We have nothing against yoga guru Baba Ramdev. His statements are against vaccination for COVID-19. We think his statements could confuse people, may divert them. This is our big concern as he has many followers," Dr Jayalal told the PTI news agency.

"If the yoga guru came forward to withdraw such remarks in its entirety, the IMA will consider taking back complaints against him in police stations and also a defamation notice sent to him," Dr Jayalal added.

This is to be noted that the IMA had served a defamation notice on Ramdev for alleged disparaging remarks against modern medicine and its practitioners. The notice also demanded an apology from him within 15 days, failing which it said would take appropriate action for Rs 1,000 crore compensation.

Several complaints have also been filed against Baba Ramdev in Delhi besides other places and the association had also requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take action against him.

Earlier on Sunday, Ramdev was forced to withdraw a statement questioning some of the drugs used to treat coronavirus and alleged "lakhs have died from taking allopathic medicines for COVID-19. 

Following the row, Ramdev had also said that 'no one has the courage to arrest him'.

The yoga guru had also posed 25 questions to the IMA asking if modern medicine offered permanent relief for ailments such as hypertension.

Co-founder of Patanjali Yogpeeth Haridwar Acharya Balkrishna backed Ramdev and said that the yoga guru and Ayurveda were being 'targeted' by allopathic practitioners under the IMA as part of a conspiracy.

"As part of the conspiracy to convert the entire country into Christianity, Yoga and Ayurveda are being maligned by targeting Ramdev jee. Countrymen, wake up now from the deep slumber otherwise the generations to come will not forgive you," Balkrishna said.

Meanwhile, the IMA Uttarakhand has challenged Yog Guru Ramdev for a debate and asked him to tell which allopathic hospitals have given Patanjali medicines for treatment.

(With agency inputs)