CPI (M) leader Brinda Karat (centre) with the dismissed employees of Ramdev's Divya Pharmacy at a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: R. V. Moorthy

NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha member Brinda Karat on Saturday sought to clarify that Communists were not against any form of traditional system of medicine or any individual.

Referring to the controversy over the issue of alleged use of human and animal matter in Ayurvedic medicines prepared in Baba Ramdev's Divya Pharmacy, Ms. Karat said her objection was only to violation of labour laws and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 by the management. "I myself practise yoga and Ayurveda is flourishing in Kerala, while West Bengal is considered the hub of homoeopathy," she said at a press conference organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) here to highlight the issues of the striking workers of Divya Pharmacy in Haridwar. "It is a war for ideology, principles and transparency. Please don't personalise it."

She said the entire issue had been given a different connotation to divert the attention of people from gross violation of laws of the land by the management.

"If any medicine helps a patient, we support it but the people have a right to know about its contents. In this case, Divya Pharmacy claims that its preparations are purely herbal, whereas the laboratory tests conducted by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry have shown ingredients of human and animal origin which is a clear violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940," she said, hoping that the Ministry would take action against the pharmacy.

Ms. Karat said the sealed samples she gave to the Ministry had been bought from the pharmacy and she had a proper receipt for that. "As a representative of the people, it was my duty to raise the issue."

Some of the workers of the pharmacy, present at the press conference, said human and animal bones were regularly brought to the pharmacy and they were made to weigh them, grind them and convert them into ash which was then used for preparing medicines. They were asked to quit because they had objected to touching bones because of their "caste".

Member of Parliament Dipankar Mukherjee said the workers' issue had been taken up with the Labour Department of Uttaranchal and a tripartite agreement had been signed between the department, the workers' union and the management on May 21, 2005. But when they reported for duty the next day, they were not allowed to resume duty. "The State Government has failed to implement its own agreement and it appears that Baba Ramdev has tremendous clout and following.

The workers had sent a representation to the President also but everyone chose to ignore it until Ms. Karat took it up,'' he said.

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