After the government’s abysmal performance in vaccinating the country against COVID-19, here comes a new ‘remedy’ from the BJP’s stable. This time it is Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Bhopal, who has prescribed consumption of ‘gau mutra’ (cow urine) of a ‘desi’ (Indian) cow for effectively fighting the virus. Also, she wants planting of tulsi, peepal and banyan trees to prevent shortage of oxygen that has proved to be a potent cause of thousands of deaths and severe discomfort to millions during the raging second wave of the pandemic. Had the people nurtured and grown such plants in abundance, the country would not have to face the oxygen scarcity as it is doing now. This is the diagnosis of the Sadhvi that she made public on May 16 while addressing a gathering at Sant Nagar in MP where she had gone to donate 25 oxygen concentrators to a hospital.
The Sadhvi not only displays a serious lack of scientific temper in handling the deadly virus, but reflects the mindset of the Sangh Parivar. It was the Prime Minister who advocated banging thali, clapping and lighting lamp to ward off COVID-19. Nothing can be more scandalous than the Bhopal MP’s assertion that “if we drink gau mutra of a desi cow, it cures us of the infections in our lungs.” She even claims she doesn’t have to think of any medicines for corona as she daily drinks cow urine after saying a prayer. She is the one facing allegations of being absent in Covid relief from her constituency recording the second highest case load in MP.
But, there are some exceptions in the BJP too who do not subscribe to such unscientific methods. Rakesh Rathore, the BJP MLA from Sitapur (Sadar) in UP has raised questions on the state government’s handling of the pandemic and told the media he might have to face “sedition charge” if he speaks too much. Asked why a trauma centre project in his constituency was still not operational, he pleaded as an MLA he does not have much power.
Last year, he was in the news for questioning in audio clips of his phone the Prime Minister’s call to bang thalis and light lamps during the first wave of the Covid.