Thousands of Indian doctors are expected to wear black armbands on Tuesday to protest against a guru and ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who claims that yoga and traditional medicine offer stronger protection against Covid-19 than vaccines.

Doctors accuse Baba Ramdev, a powerful yoga televangelist with close ties to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, of deliberately stoking vaccine hesitancy and a suspicion of modern medicine to promote his own ayurvedic medicine company, Patanjali Ayurved.

“Baba Ramdev is saying ‘don’t take the vaccine. Allopathy is stupid and medicines are killing more people,’” said Dr John Austin Jayalal, president of the Indian Medical Association. “His statements are definitely causing confusion. The central government should put a stop to it.”