Followers of a disgraced Hindu spiritual leader, Rampal, claimed on Sunday, quoting his alleged discourse, that meat-eating was against the tenets of the Creator, who wanted human beings to consume only fruit and vegetables, hence "no meat, no coronavirus".
It remains unknown how Rampal – who follows a sect called Kabir Panth that is based on the teachings of medieval poet-saint Kabir – and who is currently serving life sentence on charges of two separate murders in his Ashram (spiritual abode), was able to give a video discourse on the coronavirus from jail.
He, however, is not the first to give advice on how to cope with a potential outbreak of the viral infection: Hindu "spiritual leader" Swami Chakrapani has previously claimed that cow urine and cow dung could be used to treat the coronavirus disease. Chakrapani heads the All India Hindu Mahasabha, one of the earliest political parties in India fighting for the cause of Hindus.
"Consuming cow urine and cow dung will stop the effect of infectious coronavirus. A person, who chants Om Namah Shivay (chant to invoke God Shiva – one of the Hindu trinities) and applies cow dung on body, will be saved. A special yagna (fire) ritual will soon be performed to kill coronavirus", said Chakrapani.
The coronavirus, which was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, has already left over 300 people dead and over 14,000 infected, with the first casualty outside China confirmed in the Philippines on Sunday.
India, which has confirmed two cases of the Wuhan virus in the southern state of Kerala, has so far evacuated over 600 citizens from the worst-affected city Wuhan in two batches and they have been kept under observation at a specially created facility in Delhi and the neighbouring Manesar in Haryana.
India’s federal AYUSH Ministry, which initially issued an advisory that homoeopathy drugs can be used for the prevention of coronavirus infections and Unani for symptomatic management of the deadly disease, later clarified that “the advisory (was issued) as preventive measure and not claiming to be a treatment advise”. The ministry received flak from several quarters for its “unverified scientific claim”.