While most of the world is concerned with finding a way to cure or control the deadly coronavirus which has now crossed a death toll of over 1,770, a right-wing Hindu organisation, Hindu Mahasabha, has come up with its own origin story. Apparently, coronavirus is not the novel virus that has infected more than 70,500 people, but is actually an “avatar” that has been angered by all those who like to eat meat.
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While experts have speculated that the coronavirus originated from a market in Wuhan, China, where humans were regularly in contact with live animals and meat, it seems highly unlikely that holding a ritual to ward off evil is going to achieve much to control coronavirus. These extremely well thought-out solutions are also courtesy the same organisation who earlier this year courted controversy when they said they would honour the gunman who shot a student at Jamia Millia Islamia University, and were also accused of recreating the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019.Still, the Hindu Mahasabha insists that if their prescribed steps are followed, the “avatar” will “return to its world”. But right now, the only avatar that needs to flee to its own planet is the one that embodies these ridiculous, unscientific notions in the face of one of the deadliest virus outbreaks.Follow Shamani Joshi on Instagram.