Ludhiana police ‘promoting astrology’ on its Facebook page raises eyebrows

LUDHIANA: The radio talk show of Ludhiana DCP (headquarter) Akhil Chaudhary and Ajay Shahi ‘Know yourself through astrology during corona- a blend of vedic knowledge with new medical advancement’ has created a controversy on social media. Moreover, a city resident has also complained to DGP, Punjab, Dinkar Gupta against it via email.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ludhiana police uploaded a post on its official Facebook page- ‘Know yourself through Astrology during corona’ on a private radio channel. It claimed it to be an initiative Ludhiana police and Astro Intelligence. However, as soon as city residents started objecting to it, the post was deleted from their official Facebook page.
Bhavjit Singh uploaded a post, “Now, you can learn superstitious powers from Ludhiana police. Here you will get IPS ranked ‘tantrik’ also.”
Amandeep Singh Bains, a resident of Dugri, posted on his FB account – “So you are going to give all credit of corona warrior’s success to these astrology logic? How can Punjab police official take part in such show in uniform in the middle of corona virus pandemic and then share it on official FB page of Ludhiana police.”
He further said, “Belief in astrology can be a personal matter of any individual, but Punjab police supporting and promoting astrology is unacceptable. Now, when all corona warriors have fought for 70 days to defeat Covid-19, Ludhiana police thought of taking help of astrology, I can’t understand this.”
Bains said he had also sent a complaint to DGP Punjab and chief minister Amrinder Singh too against it. The complaint states, “I would like to bring folly of Ludhiana Police to your notice that they are sharing superstitions things like astrology from their official pages. After all hard work of officials , this is a clear effort to give all credit to astrology .We are not concerned how an individual believes and they have every right, but Ludhiana police promoting astrology through there official Facebook page and then one senior police officer taking part in that is not in good taste. We really think you need to look into these things. A few days back a religious leader, Srisri Ravishankar, was promoted via this Facebook page of Ludhiana Police. Kindly get the needful done in the best interest of people and society.”
Further Bains said, “I have listened to the talk show in which the astrologer was saying that a person should inhale alcohol through both nostrils and then corona positive patient cannot infect them. I called the show organisers and asked if there was a scientific proof of this, but the astrologer did not confirm. Suppose, if someone tries it at home, he could even die.”
DCP Akhil Chaudhary said, “I was invited for the talk show and was told that I would have to answer questions of callers, which would be related to coronavirus and lockdown. I knew that there would be an astrologer too, however, that was a separate thing. I have talked about coronavirus and lockdown only and not about astrology. Moreover, we were made to wear headphone and we could not hear to the questions of each other. Ludhiana police has nothing to do with astrology.”