On March 14, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that in light of the seriousness of the Covid-19 pandemic and the safety instructions issued by the government, it would be suspending the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the highest decision-making body meeting in Bengaluru which was to be held from March 15 to March 17, 2020.
“In view of the seriousness of the pandemic COVID-19 and in the light of instructions and advisories issues by the Union and the state governments, the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS) meeting scheduled in Bangaluru has been suspended,” Suresh ‘Bhaiyyaji’ Joshi, the RSS general secretary said in a statement.
Statement by Sarakaryavah, Shri Suresh (Bhayyaji) Joshi : pic.twitter.com/ZA0DjLattE
— RSS (@RSSorg) March 14, 2020
The meeting was supposed to see an attendance of around 1,500 members. Office bearers of 355 organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Mazdoor Sangh were in the city to participate in the meeting, which was to see the presence of BJP National President JP Nadda and a speech by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat. The Indian Express reported that the RSS was supposed to discuss a number of issues, including the roadmap for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and take a review of last year’s plan implementation apart from a sharing of experiences and achievements.
However, Twitter took to call out RSS for its decision for switching from its previous stand of investing faith in traditional’remedies’and telling its members and followers to drink cow urine for health purposes, to now putting its faith in science.
BJP Assembly Member, Suman Haripriya had said, “Cow dung has many benefits. I think it can kill the coronavirus. Cow urine can also be useful.”
Not only this, also the All India Hindu Mahasabha of which the RSS is an ideological cousin, held a ‘gau mutra’ (cow urine) party where they distributed cow urine to attendees claiming it would help ward of the coronavirus. Swami Chakrapani, the head of the outfit, also poured cow urine on a poster of the ‘corona monster’ – a multi-armed, lion headed caricature of a demon as part of the proceedings.
Today,
Hindu Mahasabha threw a gaumutra party to fight Coronavirus.Also today,
RSS cancelled it’s Bengaluru meeting amidst Coronavirus scare, hence proving that gaumutra doesn’t help.— PuNsTeR™ (@Pun_Starr) March 14, 2020
RSS cancelled high decision making meeting in Bangalore due to Coronavirus scare..
They preach consuming cow urine can stop Coronavirus, den why don’t the members of high decision making body drink it..!?
Leaders are not fools, they make you one..!!
— KP (@p_kalai) March 17, 2020
Sir, with due respect. u r a doctor. Can corona be treated / killed by GauMootr? If yes, then why Modiji, HM ji, and other RSS leaders have cancelled their meeting? If not, why BJP and RSS members are spreading false claim?
— HinduMuslim1hai (@HinduMuslim1hai) March 15, 2020
No gobar festival ?
— Rajwrdhan (@ra1ku1) March 14, 2020
Thank you so much. Bangalore doesn’t have the capacity to deal with two deadly viruses at a time. https://t.co/YbnkHuuUfv
— Drunk Journalist (@drunkJournalist) March 14, 2020
It seems that the right-wing organizations are divided on their ideologies. While one cancels gatherings, the other holds a party and a third, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, another RSS affiliate, blames China for the coronavirus, demanding that the World Health Organization calls it the ‘China virus’.
Time to close down @WHO for not rising to the occasion. Dear WHO do you have any spine? Now when it’s amply proved that #CoronavirusOutbreak comes from China by human to human contact, have guts to say its #ChinaVirus https://t.co/NfkOZMveip
— ASHWANI MAHAJAN (@ashwani_mahajan) March 19, 2020
During this time, will the right-wing government pull up all its affiliates to stop them from tarnishing its image through such claims or will it just maintain a silence on the mockery these organizations seem to be making of a deadly disease?
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