Chennai: Former Tamil Nadu BJP president and former Telangana governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan appeared to defend the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, V. Kamakoti who has drawn flak over the past few days for endorsing the medicinal benefits of cow urine.
On Tuesday, Soundararajan, an allopathic doctor, slammed political parties in the state for criticising the IIT Madras director. She was speaking at the release of a collection of engineering books written by T. Kuppan, a retired official from the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering, in Nungambakkam in Chennai.
“They will eat beef, but, despite being scientifically proven, they oppose drinking the cow urine as medicine,” she said.
“Even in Sangam literature, we have read that the backyard was sprinkled with cow dung. Even during the auspicious Margazhi month (between December and January), we decorate cow dung with flowers. So, when you can use cow dung as disinfectant, why not consume cow urine, which is called a lifesaving drink?” she asked.
As a doctor, Soundararajan said, she wouldn’t have backed the claim had it not been scientifically proven.
After the event, while speaking to the reporters, Soundararajan further claimed that cow urine was being consumed in countries such as Myanmar and Africa for its medicinal value.
“That’s why I say we cannot completely ignore the medicinal value of cow urine. It is considered as the medicine in Ayurvedic and it is proved through research,” she said.
Political parties, including CPI(M) and Seeman’s Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK), criticised her comments Tuesday.
Speaking to the reporters in Villupuram, Seeman said it was “unfortunate” to live in a country where “urine is treated as medicine, milk is poured on the ground and ghee is used to burn wood”.
“The country also has a caste hierarchy system, where those who eat beef are treated as Scheduled Caste, those who drink milk are considered as intermediate caste and those who drink cow urine are considered as upper caste,” he said.
While speaking at a gaushala in West Mambalam in Chennai on 15 January, IIT Madras director Kamakoti claimed that, apart from curing fever, cow urine has antifungal and antibacterial properties. He shared the story of a sanyasi (hermit) and how his fever was cured by drinking cow urine.
After drawing criticism from different quarters, he reiterated his claim Monday and added that there was scientific evidence for it.
When asked about the IIT director’s claim, Soundararajan said, “Ayurveda says that cow urine can cure about 80 types of diseases. So, he (the sanyasi) might have been suffering from one of those 80 types of diseases.”
Meanwhile, Dr G.R. Ravindranath, president of the Doctors’ Association for Social Equality called on Kamakoti to prove that cow urine has medicinal value.
“Consuming cow urine could cause bacterial infections and it is not medically recommended to drink at all. No medical studies prove that cow urine has medicinal value. Even the sewage water near an antibiotic medicine manufacturing plant will have similar properties,” Ravindranath told the media Monday evening.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)