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Journalism of Courage
In a video doing the rounds of social media, Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal is seen endorsing a brand of papad, saying it had ingredients that will boost a person’s immunity and help defeat the novel coronavirus. The undated video has since caused a storm on social media, with many criticising the unscientific claims.
In the video, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Heavy industries is seen talking about the ingredients of a brand called ‘Bhabhi ji papad’ and says that it helps “develop antibodies” to fight against the virus.
Meghwal is also seen wishing the brand’s owner Sunil Bhansali on the launch of the product, and saying that he hopes the venture will be “successful” under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative launched by the central government.
However, the video was not released on the minister’s official social media handles and was originally being shared on WhatsApp.
https://twitter.com/AnyBodyCanFly/status/1286537636115488768
The brand of papad claims it is an ‘immunity booster’ with “healthy ingredients” like turmeric, black pepper, black cumin, tulsi leaves, hing (asafoetida), moong dal, urad dal, salt, and other spices.
On Friday, Meghwal released a video on his Twitter handle speaking about papads and bhujiya from Rajasthan. The minister spoke about how they were very famous and he encouraged consumers to only support only local products, as part of the “vocal for local” initiative.
Meghwal tagged other ministers and BJP leaders in his tweet, asking them to talk about famous local products.
However, Papad and Bhabhi ji were trending on Twitter on Friday. Here’s how people reacted to the video:
https://twitter.com/Ravinderjain274/status/1286537225182703616
https://twitter.com/Pun_Starr/status/1286518145566404609
https://twitter.com/rishabh_memes/status/1286545342490542083
This isn’t even the first bizarre claim by a political leader to take on Covid-19. Recently, a Mangaluru Congress councillor was mocked on social media after suggesting people consume rum and fried eggs as a cure for Covid-19.
