India’s Hindu nationalist movement is preparing to market a new soft drink made from cow urine.

Om Prakash, the head of the Cow Protection Department of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India’s biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, 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."

In 2001, the RSS and its offshoots began promoting cow urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.