West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday said there is no harm in drinking cow urine and he has no qualms in admitting he consumes it but party MP Locket Chatterjee sought to differ, terming this an "unscientific belief" that should be shunned.
A cow urine-consumption programme was organised in north Kolkata on Monday out of the belief that it will protect people from coronavirus or cure them in case they have already been infected.
At the programme held at a cowshed at the Jorasanko area, many consumed cups of cow urine.
A civic volunteer who was seen consuming urine filed a police complaint on Tuesday against the organisers alleging them of fooling him to drink cow urine as "chanramrit" (prasad).
In his reaction, Ghosh said he supported consumption of cow urine, adding there is no harm in it.
"There is no harm in consumption of urine. For ages, people in our country has consumed urine, all of them have been fit and fine. I have no qualm in accepting that I consume cow urine and will again do so. I am not an opportunist," he said.
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However, Mahila Morcha president of BJP's Bengal unit and Lok Sabha member Locket Chatterjee said such "unscientific beliefs" should be shunned.
"When science has made so much progress, we should shun such unscientific beliefs as it would in no way help us in combating this pandemic. It would rather create more confusion," she said.
The claim that consumption of cow urine can cure coronavirus drew sharp criticism from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and opposition Congress too.
"This is completely unscientific and absurd. When scientists across the world are working to fight this virus, such claims 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 said because of BJP's "obsession" with cow such "superstitions have spread in the society".