After a local politician made the outrageous claim that Indian cows actually produce gold in their milk, reports are emerging of farmers attempting to take loans out using their cattle as collateral.

According to Indian media, a man in West Bengal’s Dankuni area attempted to secure a loan from Manappuram Finance Limited against two of his cows.

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“I have come here for a gold loan and hence I have brought my cows with me. I heard that there is gold in cow milk. My family depends on these cows. I have 20 cows and if I get the loan, I will be able to expand my business,” the man said.

Needless to say, he was denied.

The news follows comments by West Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh earlier this week, in which he claimed that Indian cows actually produce gold in their milk when exposed to sunlight.

“Dilip Ghosh should get a Nobel Prize for the situation he has created and for claiming that there is gold in cow milk,” Manoj Singh, an elder in West Bengal’s Garalgacha village, mockingly told India Today.

Every day people are coming in my panchayat with cows and asking me how much loan they can get against the cows. They say their cows produce 15-16 litres milk per day, so they should get the loan.

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The aspiring borrowers can be forgiven for taking a politician at his word, as outlandish claims about cows are par for the course in Indian politics. BJP legislator Dilip Kumar Paul claimed that cows produce more milk if they listen to a certain kind of flute, while Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat claimed that Indian cows are the only creatures on Earth that both inhale and exhale oxygen.

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