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New Delhi, Mar 19: Senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes on Wednesday extolled the virtues of 'gaumutra' and shared an anecdote about a man claiming to have cured his cancer by drinking cow urine to drive his point home.

Participating in a debate in Rajya Sabha on two bills for setting up national commissions for homoeopathy and Indian systems of medicine, the former Union minister said, "My extreme friend Jairam Ramesh pulls my leg, when I talk of 'gaumutra'."

Sharing an anecdote, Fernandes said once during a visit to an ashram near Meerut he had met a person who claimed to have cured his cancer by drinking 'gaumutra'.

Many BJP leaders have earlier spoken about the healing power of 'gaumutra'. The Congress has reacted sharply to such remarks.

He also praised the virtues of the Indian systems of medicine. He said when he had severe pain in knee joint and doctors had suggested for replacement surgery. However, he refused and started doing 'Vajrasana'.

"I started Vajrasana, practising yoga, and today I am able to do wrestling without any difficulty," the septuagenarian leader said.

"When (former) prime minister (Atal Bihari) Vajypee ji had a knee surgery, I thought if I had known him earlier, I would have definitely gone to him and ask him to follow 'Vajrasan' and it could have been cured," he said.

He also claimed to have met a person in US aged around 104 years and moving swiftly as a young man.

"Yoga is our wealth. If you practise yoga, may be our budget cost of health can be reduced by 50 per cent. It's way of life," he said.

"Our own Indian systems of medicine will provide a lot of reliefs even before going to a doctor," he said.

Though Fernandes supported the bills but raised objection over the exclusion of yoga and naturopathy.

"I would urge the minister either to amend the bill or bring an assurance that it will bring a separate legislation to cover yoga and naturopathy," he said.

Mandya, Apr 25: An FIR was registered against JD(S) MLC KT Srikante Gowda, his son, and three others for protesting against coronavirus testing of journalists in Karnataka's Mandya city on Saturday.

According to the police, JD(S) MLC KT Srikante Gowda, his son Krishik Gowda, Chandrakala Aythu, Jagadish, and Raju have been named as accused in the FIR filed at Mandya West police station.

The FIR has been registered under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Disaster Management Act including unlawful assembly, rioting, wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, negligent act likely to spread infection of a deadly disease, etc.

Gowda, along with a group of locals, had created a ruckus objecting to the coronavirus testing of journalists at Ambedkar Bhawan in Mandya here earlier today.

Police said that a journalists' association had filed a written complaint seeking the registration of an FIR in the matter.

As per an order by the state health department, medical professionals were conducting health tests of journalists at Ambedkar Bhawan in Mandya when Gowda along with some locals started protesting, officials said.

Further actions are being taken, police said.