Bhopal: A ruling BJP leader in Madhya Pradesh has floated a weird idea to keep ‘non-Hindu intruders’ from the Garba venues in the upcoming Navratri festival by using ‘gomutra’ (cow urine).
BJP’s Indore district unit chief Chintu Verma on Tuesday strongly recommended that the revellers of Garba festival should be asked to savour a sip of ‘gomutra’ before participating in the event to prove them as Hindus.
“Gau mutra like cow is sacred for Hindus. Hence, no Hindu will have any objection to sip cow urine. This way the organisers can easily identify the non-Hindus who enter the Garba pandals by concealing their religious identities and deny their entry into the venue”, Mr Verma said.
The BJP leader said that the Aadhar and Voter ID cannot be relied upon on the occasion since non-Hindus may gain entry into such events by faking their IDs.
His suggestion comes amid cases of chaos in such events in the past after the Hindu groups caught youths of a minority community entering the Garba pandals and taking photographs of girls participating in Garba dance festival.
Some youths belonging to the minority community were attacked allegedly by activists of Hindu outfits at the Garba venues in five places in Indore and one place in Ujjain in 2022.
Senior BJP leader and former minister Usha Thakur had then suggested that the revellers should be allowed entry into the Garba venues after they produce Aadhar or voter cards as ID proof.
Congress has however taken a jibe at Mr Verma for floating the idea of making revellers sip ‘gomutra’ before allowing their entry into the Garba event, saying that let the BJP leaders first have a taste of it.
“Let the BJP leaders have a taste of 'gomutra' before suggesting others to sip the cow urine”, Congress leader Neelabh Shukla said.