AYUSH ministry in a spot after RTI reply over ‘no Muslim yoga teachers’

NEW DELHI: The ministry of AYUSH has denied stating in a right to information (RTI) reply that it has a policy not to hire Muslim yoga teachers.

A freelance journalist working for Milli Gazette, India’s oldest Muslim community journal, had published a story based on a right-to-information question regarding recruitment of yoga teachers for postings abroad.

The reply, according to the journal’s story, said 3,481 Muslim candidates applied for the job but none was selected because “as per government policy — no Muslim candidate was invited, selected or sent abroad”.

The ministry said though it did receive a query from the freelance journalist, a part of the reply stating an official policy to exclude Muslims was “nonexistent” and “fictitious”.

“The ministry… has noted with anguish certain mischievous misinformation being spread in certain section of media and social media quoting a reply to an RTI by mentioning a fabricated draft as Annexure I to that letter, which has never been issued by the Ministry of AYUSH or any of its agencies,” a government statement said.

AYU SH, an acronym for Ayurv eda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, is a ministry that promotes Indian alternative medicine.

A version of the same RTI reply provided to HT by the ministry said it had “no information” on Muslim applicants.

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