Ramdev moves Supreme Court over cases filed against him for remarks on allopathy

New Delhi: Yoga guru Ramdev on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging multiple first information reports (FIRs) against him for his comments on efficacy of allopathy in treatment of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). He has also sought protection from 'coercive actions' in the FIRs lodged by Indian Medical Association's Patna and Raipur wings.

Ramdev had stirred controversy with his remarks that he was enjoying the dual protection of yoga and Ayurveda and that is why he didn’t opt for vaccination. He also claimed that the fatalities caused by Covid-19 showed that allopathy was not 100% effective.

“For decades, I have been practicing yoga-Ayurveda doses so I didn’t feel the need to get vaccinated. Over 100 crore people of India as well as in foreign countries are in reach of these ancient therapies. In the coming time, Ayurveda will be globally accepted. A section of society is deliberately ignoring or deeming it inferior in comparison to allopathy,” Ramdev said.

It all started when a video of the yoga guru surfaced last month, in which he was seen calling allopathy a ‘stupid science’ and alleging that thousands of doctors had died despite taking the Covid-19 vaccine. As calls for his arrest over the remarks were made, he challenged them and said "even their baap (father) cannot arrest Swami Ramdev".

He later retracted those comments following the IMA and Union health minister’s objections. The IMA have, however, said they would drop the cases against him only if he withdrew his comments against allopathy in entirety.

In what seemed like a damage control move, Ramdev described doctors as "God's envoys on earth" and said that he would soon get the vaccine.