Brinda as major embarrassment to Left brigade

Brinda as major embarrassment to Left brigade

By S.R. Ramanujan

Alternative medicine used to be, once upon a time, the last resort of those seeking cure for various ailments. There was a craze for allopathic tablets, and more so, for the ‘pricks’ for it was thought by the gullible patients that an ‘injection’ gives a miracle cure. Even the grandmas would advice the children, even for colds and fever, to have an injection. Only when they failed to get cured by antibiotics and IM or IV injections, patients would go in search of homeopathy or Ayurved or Unani.

Thanks to a number of health columns in the newspapers and magazines wherein patients started discussing the side-effects of “Angrezi dava”, people started taking a call on the alternative indigenous system. Even for serious ailments people were advised to consult Ayurvedic doctor or homeopath. The government also recognised the importance of alternative system, and as a result, there was a mushroom growth of Ayurvedic, Homeopathic, and Unani colleges issuing degrees and diplomas to the students. These came quite handy for the practitioners of alternative system to reach out to rural areas since Allopaths were reluctant to take up rural service. Even in the cities and metros, it would be quite a scene to watch patients waiting for hours together at the clinics of Homeo and Ayurvedic physicians.

The Bathina Goud family of Hyderabad has been distributing medicines for the last 160 years to hundreds and thousands of asthma patients on a particular day in a year. It is claimed to be a herbal paste inserted in the mouth of a small murrel fish and slipped down the patient’s throat. The Goud family is not revealing the ingredients of the paste as they say the formula was given by a spiritual leader some 160 years ago.

The late President K.R. Narayanan was a great votary of Ayurvedic system and there are many VVIPs, Governors and Ministers who would like to get rejuvenated in Kerala Ayurvedic centres, which are no longer confined to Kerala, and in Nature Cure hospitals. This phenomenon did have an impact on the general public for whom these VVIPs are role models. This is the time when many Yoga acharyas also descended on the scene preaching Yoga for health and indigenous medicines for ailments. With their saffron clothes and flowing beards they presented themselves as symbols of Hindu tradition. Combination of faith, yoga for physical well being, Ayurved for ailments, and spiritual counseling, came as a ‘manna’ for the already disillusioned and stressed people. Even the much-touted health tourism started driving foreign tourists to the ashrams of the Gurus or Kerala rejuvenation clinics.

Karats and their ilk are the ones who came out with an astonishing theory that Ramayana and Mahabharata serials on Doordarshan years ago, were responsible for revivalism in the country.

This is not a very happy situation for the pharmaceutical industry in general and MNCs in particular. The first shot was fired when it was reported that Ayurvedic drugs have a high metal content and some of the countries imposed restrictions on the import of Ayurvedic drugs. Interestingly, when K.R. Narayanan passed away when he was in his nineties, the death was attributed to his use of Ayurvedic medicine having high metallic ingredient. Conversely, can we not say that it was his penchant for Ayurved that made him live till he reached his nineties? This may be a relatively insignificant point. But what should be noted is that a campaign began in right earnest against indigenous system by interested parties in collaboration with the local left-leaning NGOs who frown on anything that has the mark of Indian tradition.

This phenomenon did have an impact on the general public for whom these VVIPs are role models. This is the time when many Yoga acharyas also descended on the scene preaching Yoga for health and indigenous medicines for ailments.

The first “war” against indigenous system began some two years ago with a row over the “fish medicine” for asthma patients in Hyderabad. The Bathina Goud family of Hyderabad has been distributing medicines for the last 160 years to hundreds and thousands of asthma patients on a particular day in a year. It is claimed to be a herbal paste inserted in the mouth of a small murrel fish and slipped down the patient’s throat. The Goud family is not revealing the ingredients of the paste as they say the formula was given by a spiritual leader some 160 years ago. Patients cutting across caste, creed or religion are thronging the Hyderabad city in lakhs in the month of June every year. The unprecedented response was something that the rationalists and allopaths could not digest. The physical appearance of Goud brothers with yellow clothes traditionally worn by Hindus on auspicious occasions with religious marks on the forehead, must have been a red rag for the rationalists and Hindu baiters. Jana Vignana Vedika, a Left-oriented outfit, alleged that the herbal paste contained steroids and that could be the reason for temporary relief for the asthmatics. It was quite laughable because administration of steroids in such a small dosage on one day of the year will not give any relief. God knows what sort of “rationalism” is this? The astonishing fact is that the Indian Medical Assocation also joined the fray as the huge response for a herbal medicine hurt their ego and the business as well. Ultimately, tests in government labs proved that the paste did not contain steroids.

Swami Ramdev controversy has to be viewed in this context. His appeal also cuts across castes and religions with himself a picture of Hindu symbol with saffron clothes and uncut hair and preaching traditional values of the country. There were also threats to him from jehadis as he is a big draw even among the Muslims. We can’t also dismiss the fact that there are sinister designs against all those popular gurus like Sri Sri Ravishankar, Mata Amritanandamayi for they are able to appeal to the youth. Since their popularity can be partly attributed to faith channels there are already suggestions from interested quarters that these channels should be banned as they might only trigger communal unrest.

With only Prakash Karat to support CPM takes a hasty retreat.

This is the stage when Brinda Karat entered the scene to take on Swami Ramdev whose following runs into millions across the country. Karats and their ilk are the ones who came out with an astonishing theory that Ramayana and Mahabharata serials on Doordarshan years ago, were responsible for revivalism in the country. So, Ramdevs are perceived to be a threat to Communism, or whatever left of it in the country. It may be just a coincidence that the interests of both the MNCs and the Indian Communists had a rare convergence. Swami Ramdev is not correct when he accuses Brinda Karat of acting at the behest of MNCs. As an activist of the Left that has no respect for anything that has the mark of Indian tradition, she has a different agenda. Retrenchment of employees in Swami’s Divya Yog Dispensary is just an excuse to politicise the issue and tarnish his image. If her interest is to ensure that Ayurvedia drugs are not adulterated, she must have begun the exercise in her husband’s home state which has an Ayurvedic dispensary in every street corner. She knew that she would encounter protests from her own party’s rank and file. Therefore, soft targets can only be Hindu spiritual leaders.