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Has India's most influential guru finally gone too far?

Claims that modern medicine to blame for COVID deaths ignites a fierce backlash

Controversial guru Baba Ramdev was forced to withdraw comments last week that modern medicine was largely to blame for India's COVID-19 deaths. He is facing a $140 million lawsuit brought by the Indian Medical Association.   © Reuters

BANGALORE -- With India still struggling to contain a debilitating second COVID-19 wave, Baba Ramdev, the country's most visible and flamboyant saffron-clad spiritual guru, made an astonishing accusation last week.

In a video clip that went quickly viral, he branded allopathy, modern medicine, a "stupid and failed science," adding that it and not coronavirus was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people -- India had officially seen 318,895 COVID deaths as of May 28.

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