New Delhi: Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha (All India Hindu Union) hosted a cow urine drinking party on Saturday as they believe that cow urine wards off the coronavirus.
The “party” was attended by 200 people. According to Reuters, Om Prakash, a person who attended the party claimed that he has been drinking cow urine for 21 years, and also takes bath in cow dung. He said, he has never felt the need to consume English medicine.
Chakrapani Maharaj, the chief of the All India Hindu Union placed a spoon filled with cow urine near the face of a caricature of the coronavirus.
While the leaders from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party have advocated the use of cow urine as medicine and a cure for cancer, a BJP MLA from Assam, Suman Haripriya, recently suggested that cow urine and cow dung can be used to treat the infection. She also said gaumutra can cure cancer, echoing a claim made by party colleague and Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur — one that prompted an opposition lawmaker to mock her as a potential candidate for the health ministry.
The virus which has infected more than 138,000 people worldwide and left over 5,000 dead, has no known scientific cure and governments across the world are struggling to control the spread of the pandemic. India is also battling coronavirus epidemic: over 80 have been infected, and two people have died.
It must be mentioned here that many Hindus consider the cow sacred and some drink cow urine believing it has medicinal properties. However, experts have repeatedly asserted that cow urine does not cure illnesses and there is no evidence that it can prevent coronavirus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is currently no specific anti-viral medicine or vaccine, and that patients recover through supportive care.
Meanwhile, a cow urine consumption programme was also organised in north Kolkata on Monday out of the belief that it will protect people from the coronavirus or cure them in case they have already been infected.
A group of men organised a cow-worship programme at a cowshed at the Jorasanko area and consumed cups of cow urine.
“We believe that consuming cow urine would further strengthen our immunity and protect us from the coronavirus,” one of the organisers said.
The organisers vouched for its “miraculous” properties while offering cow urine to others.
The programme drew sharp criticism from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition Congress, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) remained tightlipped.
“This is completely unscientific and absurd. When scientists across the world are working to fight this virus, such incidents are not only shameful but are also a crime. I would urge everyone not to fall into such a trap,” state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.
Congress’s chief whip in the state Assembly Manoj Chakraborty slammed the “saffron camp” and said “it is due to their obsession with cow that such superstitions have spread in the society”.
Meanwhile in Hoogly’s Arambagh area, cow urine and cow dung were sold to “cure” the coronavirus.
The local police said they were looking into the incident.
With inputs from PTI