Markets in everything

I'm afraid to give this one much of a subtitle:

India's Hindu nationalist movement is launching a new soft drink made from cow urine.

The
bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection
Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest
and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om
Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal,"
or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would
be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year."

"Don't
worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told the
Times of London from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy
cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very
healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any
toxins."

The drink is the latest attempt
by the RSS – which was founded in 1925 and now claims 8 million members
– to cleanse India of foreign influence and promote its ideology of
Hindutva, or Hindu-ness.

I thank John de Palma for the pointer.

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