Photos courtesy of screenshots taken from viral Facebook video posted by Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria
An Indian politician who advised people to bathe in mud and blow conch shells to cure COVID-19 has now tested positive for the virus.In August, a Facebook video of Sukhbir Singh Jaunapuria, lawmaker from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, went viral. In the video, Jaunapuria is seen blowing a conch shell while rolling in mud and biting off leaves from random shrubs. Jaunapuria advocated that this exercise would “build up immunity against the coronavirus”. “If we do Yoga, mud bath and blow conch shells, no Covid will touch us,” he had earlier said.He sat amidst a circle of fire to improve his immunity. In the same video, he also urged people to get wet in the rain, stop using air conditioners and reduce eating food cooked on a gas to protect against COVID-19.Jaunapuria was among the 24 legislators who tested positive on the first day of the Parliament’s monsoon session on September 14.Previously, BJP minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who advised people to eat a specific brand of papad - a thin, round flatbread - to protect against COVID-19, also tested positive last month.Ever since coronavirus cases began spiking in India, politicians have made bizarre, pseudoscientific claims to fight off the novel virus.In March, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey advised people to sit in the sun daily for 15 minutes as a preventative measure against the virus. Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of northern Indian state Uttar Pradesh, has asked people to practice yoga, adding that one could fight coronavirus by overcoming “mental illness”.Politicians have also actively advocated the use of cow products to cure COVID-19. A right wing Hindu nationalist outfit called the Hindu Mahasabha had organised a cow urine party with cow dung cakes in early March, despite health authorities warning against large gatherings.
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Last week, Imarti Devi, Minister of Women and Child Development in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh said that she would not contract COVID-19 because she was “born in cow dung”.India has now crossed more than 5 million coronavirus cases, and has the highest global tally of daily infections.Follow Shamani on Instagram.