Chief of top Indian university sparks backlash for promoting ‘medicinal value’ of cow urine
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In a video that has now gone viral, Kamakoti can be heard narrating a story about an Indian ascetic who apparently cured himself of high fever by consuming cow urine. Remarks by the head of one of India’s top technology colleges extolling the “medicinal value” of cow urine have sparked a political row in India.
The comments by V Kamakoti, the director of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, sparked a backlash from regional political parties and lawmakers who accused him of promoting “pseudoscience”. In a video that has now gone viral, Mr Kamakoti can be heard narrating a story about an Indian ascetic who apparently cured himself of high fever by consuming cow urine.
India Today quoted him as saying that the ascetic “drank cow urine and in 15 minutes, his fever subsided”. He also promoted cow urine as “anti-bacterial and anti-fungal” and said that it had “digestive properties” that could cure Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), news agency Press Trust of India reported. The IITs, first established in 1950 in the eastern state of West Bengal, are premium educational institutes.
Mr Kamakoti was speaking at an event in state capital Chennai on 15 January on the day of Maatu Pongal, a four-day festival honouring cows and bulls for their contribution to agriculture. The cattle are decorated with flowers, paint and bells for the occasion.
