Modi’s minister uses own urine to grow plants

DELHI: Nitin Gadkari, a minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, has recommended urine’s use for healthy growth of plants, media reports said yesterday.
Addressing a gathering in Nagpur Sunday, he said he had been using the “therapy” for the plants at his Delhi residence.
“I started storing my urine in a plastic can. And after collecting all of it in a 50-liter can — I have a big bungalow in Delhi. It used to be Sonia Gandhi’s bungalow. There is a one acre field in the bungalow,” Gadkari is heard saying in a video uploaded on YouTube by ABP Majha.
He claimed that plants that got “urine therapy” showed better growth than those that got “plain water”.
“There are a lot of trees there. So one day I called the gardener and instructed him to water some plants with this. And I’m telling you, there was so much difference, the trees grew one-and-a-half feet more than other plants,” said the transport minister, confessing to some “awkwardness” in talking about his experiment.
Stating that there was a scientific reason behind this, he said: “Urine has abundant urea and nitrogen compounds, which nourish the plants.” He said soon urine could emerge as a cheap alternative to fertilizer.
Gadkari revealed that he once used his own urine on plants in his lawns at his 2, Motilal Nehru Marg residence, a bungalow that used to be the office of the former National Advisory Council headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and is just across the road from her 10, Janpath home.
Gadkari was addressing a workshop organized by his party, the BJP, on fighting drought. His ideas reminded many parliamentarians of former Prime Minister Morarji Desai, who was known to advocate urine therapy for good health.
Botanical experts say there is no scientific evidence to prove the benefits of urine as fertilizer.
Garkari’s comments did, however, spur a frenzy of jokes and comments on Twitter.
“Next time Nitin Gadkari gifts fruits from his farm, people will think twice,” tweeted J. Gopikrishnan.