New Delhi: While the Congress branded the AYUSH ministry’s ‘no sex, no meat’ advisory for pregnant women as impractical, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to its defense saying that it was just an advice, not a coercion.
“It is not a directive or coercion but only an advice to the pregnant mothers. I don’t know why we rake up a controversy out of nothing,” BJP leader Shaina N.C. told ANI.
Contradicting BJP’s stance, Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed termed the advisory as ‘immature’.
“It is an impractical and immature advisory. It doesn’t seem right if such advisory comes from any government agencies because in this case they only become a laughing stock,” Ahmed told ANI.
The Ministry of AYUSH had released a booklet called ‘Mother and Child Care’ recommending pregnant women to ‘shun non-vegetarian food, avoid sex after conception, avoid bad company, have spiritual thoughts and hang beautiful pictures in a room’ to have a healthy baby.
The Ministry, however, on Wednesday termed the reports incorrect and said that it was just a suggestion or an advisory, not a prescription.
Speaking to ANI, Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, Dr. Ishwara Acharya, said, “This was just a suggestion or an advisory, it’s not a prescription for pregnant women in India to not have sex, meat or be in bad company if you want to have healthy babies”.
In a statement, the AYUSH Ministry said, “Some reports have appeared in the print and electronic media since June 13, 2017 concerning the publication ‘Mother and Child Care’ of Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN), an autonomous body under the Ministry of AYUSH. Unfortunately, many of these reports are seen to be inaccurate, and some are even seen to misrepresent facts.”
The Ministry said that nowhere in the booklet ‘no sex’ has been mentioned.
“Some news reports carry an assertion that the booklet puts forward the ‘prescription’ that ‘pregnant women in India’ should ‘say no to sex after conception’. This is far from the truth. In fact, the words ‘no sex’ do not feature at all in the booklet,” it added.
The booklet was released by Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Naik in the run-up to International Day for Yoga.