Dr Narottam Puri, Emeritus Consultant–ENT& Head &Neck Surgery and Advisor IMA has launched a blistering attack on yoga guru Ramdev over his criticism of Allopathy and modern science.

“The hypocritical debate initiated by Ramdev Yadav about Ayurveda and Modern System of Medicine (allopathy) is lamentable,” said  Dr Narottam Puri adding “He seems to be levitating in midair without a leg to stand on, so to say, as he is himself not qualified in either of the two. He is a yoga teacher and not an Ayurvedic doctor and it is surprising that no one from that council or a government body responsible for Ayurveda has pointed this out.”

He said further that Ramdev is “clearly damaging the age old system of medicine (Ayurveda) as also the widely accepted and respected modern system of medicine that is practised all over the globe”.

“It appears that this is nothing else but the need of this individual to get into public eye after being forced to hibernate as Covid management strategies did not help his cause (business) as much as he might have hoped.

“His attacks on doctors, his denigration of science and modern medicine and his attempts to belittle the vaccination efforts are a national tragedy and whilst he did receive a slap on the wrist from the Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, it has not been enough to make him apologise and repent.

“One of the areas that yoga excels is the peace of mind one attains through the practice of meditation. ‘Ramdev Yadav’ does not seem to believe even in this part of yoga. His mind is as far from calm and peaceful as one can possibly imagine and his acidic comments and vitriolic approach is a bad advertisement for meditation and yoga, the subject he learnt and now teaches.

“Ignorance is the absence of knowledge. Stupidity is the presence of knowledge and the refusal to use it,” Dr Puri said adding “This is often invoked in science in a positive way. A true scientist never minds saying “I do not know”. These three words start him/her on a voyage of discovery that leads to progress. The ever dominant urge to ask why dominates scientific thought and temper. Had it not been this the world would still be grappling with scurvy, small pox, chicken pox, polio and a myriad other diseases that a non-scientific mind would not even have learnt about, leave alone find a treatment for.

On Covid, he said, “Take COVID, it was not discovered in an ashram of Ramdev that it is caused by a Corona Virus, nor what signs and symptoms it produces, where and what type of damage it causes and what are the possible ways this disease can be managed and prevented through novel vaccines. All this has been made possible through scientific discovery and modern medicine.

“Every thinking individual needs to decry the efforts of Ramdev Yadav in reducing the efforts of science, medicine and vaccinology indeed going against the efforts of the government and the opinion of WHO. The world suffers a lot. Not because of violence of bad people but because of the silence of good ones,” he added concluding with “Time to tell him; enough is enough.”