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The Andhra Pradesh government has named Manthena Satyanarayana Raju, a naturopathy practitioner, as the state government’s advisor for yoga and naturopathy for a period of two years. A government order pertaining to this was issued on Monday, December 29.
Cartoonist Pochampally Sridhar Rao was also appointed as the advisor for Mass Communication, and Chunduri Seetharamanjaneya Prasad, a religious leader, as the Endowments advisor.
Manthena Satyanarayana Raju is widely popular in the Telugu states. He runs the Manthena Arogyalayam or Nature Cure Hospital and Research Center, also referred to as his ‘ashram’ in the Amaravati region near Guntur.
He promotes vegetarianism, claiming that plant products have more protein content than animal products and meat. He has also claimed that eggs are not the best food for strengthening muscles. “We eat chicken’s eggs for strength, but the chicken itself eats grains. If you ask whether grains or eggs are better for strength, people choose eggs. This is so wrong,” he has said in one of his videos.
Yoga and Naturopathy fall under the purview of the Ministry of Ayush, along with Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy.
The health department of Andhra Pradesh recently issued another controversial order allowing Ayurveda practitioners who have completed PG courses in surgical studies and have proper training to perform surgeries independently. The move has drawn criticism from doctors and health experts.
The TDP government in Andhra Pradesh had earlier appointed popular Hindu spiritual leader Chaganti Koteswara Rao as a government advisor, a post with a Cabinet rank.
Among other advisors previously appointed by the Chandrababu Naidu government are former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chief S Somanath for space technology, former Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) chief Satheesh Reddy for aerospace and defence, Bharat Biotech co-founder and managing director Suchitra Ella for handloom and handicrafts, and former head of AP Forensic Science Laboratory KPC Gandhi for forensic science.