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At a time when the world is indulged in finding the cure of novel coronavirus, Minister of State for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, and Parliamentary Affairs, Arjun Ram Meghwal, MP for the Bharatiya Janata Party, has claimed that a 'papad' will defeat the virus.
Meghwal has claimed that a papad brand named 'Bhabhiji Papad' has all the ingredients that are required to develop antibodies to fight the cooronavirus disease.
In a viral video, the BJP MP, has said, "My fellow countrymen, under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, a papad manufacturer has come up with this product that will aid the formation of antibodies to fight the coronavirus ” The minister further added, “This papad will prove useful in the fight against coronavirus.”
An elected official openly claiming a papad to be the cure of a deadly virus has received flak from all around. Netizens are lashing out at the politician for spreading misinformation and baseless claims at a time where every step requires extra precautionary measures.
Critics of the PM Modi-led government have taken the incident as an opportunity and slammed Meghwal for his peculiar claims.
Lawyer Prasant Bhushan, taking to his verified twitter account wrote: "Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has launched a papad brand amid the Covid-19 pandemic claiming it contains some ingredients that will help develop antibodies against the novel coronavirus disease. Ministers, (Baba) Ramdev all trying to profit from Covid-19 by peddling bogus cures.”
"Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has launched a 'papad' brand amid covid pandemic claiming that it contains some ingredients that help develop antibodies against the new coronavirus". Ministers, Ramdev all trying to profit from Covid peddling bogus cures https://t.co/GgjBNDc4Y6
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) July 24, 2020
Meanwhile, meme creators have organised a memefest on Twitter as they call out irresponsible behaviour of the MP with humour. The word "papad" has emerged as one of the top trends with over 1,000 tweets.
Taking a dig at the minister, one user wrote: "A bjp leader has launched a 'papad' brand claiming it would increase immunity Thats a real example of "Aapda ko avsar mein badlna" Moreover he also proved that he is graduated from one of the most prestigious Whatsapp university So now we have papad after taali and thaali."
"Now we know that the MoS has used the lockdown period productively.
Ghar mein paapad bel rahey they," wrote another user.
Now we know that the MoS has used the lockdown period productively.
— Shomona Khanna (@alterlaw) July 24, 2020
Ghar mein paapad bel rahey they.
Check out some hilarious memes:
— CHEAP न्यूज़™💥 (@Cheap_News) July 24, 2020
Corona's Antibody from Bhabhiji Papad ??
— dr_strange🩺 (@drstrange_nmch) July 24, 2020
That's great news 👏👏👏
So Plz stop wasting time & money in making corona virus vaccine @WHO @ICMRDELHI @PMOIndia @BharatBiotech @SerumInstIndia @ZydusUniverse @UniofOxford
Listen china, we can fight with ur chinesevirus even with papad pic.twitter.com/IgdMyDadf6
The United Nations(UN) , meanwhile, recently launched a global initiative that aims to stop the spread of misinformation and fake news related to coronavirus on social media. Through the initiative, the UN called on people to "pause" before sharing content that may lack accurate information.