New Delhi: A self-proclaimed ‘doctor’, Biswaroop Roy Chowdhury, has shared a video of an ‘anti-mask’ group on social media in which a group of youths is asking people to boycott masks as they “don’t prevent” the novel coronavirus from entering the human body.
Chowdhury shared the video on Twitter on 17 August, but the micro-blogging site took it down as it “violated Twitter rules”. Before it was taken down, the video had garnered as many as 6,17,000 views.
The video is, however, still there on his YouTube channel, which was uploaded on 16 August.
I urge everyone in India to read this. This person @drbrcofficial is not only a quack, but also toxic to public health. He makes other quacks look like a picnic lunch basket. His activities terrorise science, rational thinking and endanger #PublicHealthhttps://t.co/OyuYEvMmml
— Abby Philips M.D., D.M. (Hepatology) (@drabbyphilips) August 16, 2020
Holy shit. India anti-maskers
— PKR | প্রশান্ত | پرشانتو (@prasanto) August 17, 2020
The video features four men and one woman. The group says that mask is a sign of “compliance and slavery”. They also challenge the effectiveness of masks, saying there is “mind manipulation” behind it.
The group also claimed that masks have an adverse effect on health and that any doctor would say that they offer no kind of protection. They even made a “wake up” call for ‘freedom from masks’ — mask se azadi.
“Today it is a mandatory mask, tomorrow it’s a mandatory vaccine, a digital ID and the list goes on! We have to stop things from becoming mandatory! Do not give up your freedom and rights for the illusion of health and safety,” says the voice-over in the video.
Towards the end of the video, the group members even burn their masks.
Also read: Face masks — the ultimate pro-freedom, pro-life fashion accessory
Not the first time
This is not the first time that Chowdhury has shared videos of this sort.
In a video shared Monday on his YouTube channel, titled ‘Corona warrior: Mask ki Holi’, a man says that he hasn’t worn masks or used sanitisers since the Covid-19 outbreak and only wore it to escape from the police.
“Today we will protest against masks and burn them all,” he says.
“We are starting a movement and will revolt against the government. They are forcing us to keep our mouths shut by wearing masks,” he adds.
“This is our first ‘Mask Jalwa Abhiyan’ that we are starting on 15 August, which is a fake and false independence day,” the man says.
Inspired from similar instances abroad
The ‘anti-mask’ group seems to be inspired by similar instances in other parts of the world.
In July, a group of anti-maskers, who believe coronavirus is a government hoax, started meeting in a cramped Melbourne gym to discuss how to resist “putrid police” trying to enforce the law.
In Florida too, anti-masks activists took their campaign to a grilled cheese bar. The US has also witnessed angry confrontations between pro-masks and anti-masks groups across the country.
Also read: Why America’s war on masks is another lost cause