While clinical masks that are widely being used amid the coronavirus pandemic are largely a subtle blue and white colour, lawmaker Tejasvi Surya from the federally governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shared a photograph of himself wearing a saffron mask.
Surya has claimed to have donated 200,000 saffron masks in his constituency Bengaluru South in Karnataka state.
Associated with Hinduism-inclined political and religious groups, the saffron colour is also associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party's flag. The politician is now being blamed for politicising the coronavirus pandemic and “stooping low in times of adversity”, while one user even suggested that the mask has an "inbuilt gaumutra (cow urine) sprinkler" in it:
Others hailed him for him the subtle jibe and initiative.
The 29-year-old Karnataka lawmaker fell victim to trolls on Twitter after a controversial old tweet – "95% Arab women never had orgasm" – resurfaced and started making the rounds on the microblogging website.