Comment on: “The minister of health, the director of AIIMS and Shah Rukh Khan”

This refers to the write-up “The minister of health, the director of AIIMS and Shah Rukh Khan” (1) appearing in July-September issue of the journal. While freedom to articulate views is a basic tenet of a healthy democracy it does not give the authors a right to make unsubstantiated allegations against a highly respected cardiothoracic surgeon ºwho served the nation all his life. The authors allege, without substantiating, that the then director of The All India Institute of Medical Sciences provided support to those agitating against caste based reservations. Where is the evidence to support this comment? When did the director come out to support the agitators?

The only basis for the authors to conclude that Dr Venugopal was supporting the anti-quota agitation probably stems from his reluctance the use barbaric methods to evict medical students who were protesting in a Gandhian manner. One may or may not agree with the agenda of agitators but nobody can deny the fact the agitation was a peaceful one and any use of force, as done by Mumbai police (2), would not have been justified. It will be much better that the authors use evidence rather than hearsay, and facts rather than fiction, to buttress the statements they choose to make.