New Delhi: The saffron party has suggested cow urine — gomutra — as the panacea for all ills, but Union minister Nitin Gadkari went a step further recently saying human urine could help plants grow bigger.

In fact, Mr Gadkari said the secret behind his well-groomed garden at his New Delhi bungalow — in Delhi’s posh Lutyens’ Zone — was his own urine. Speaking at an event on irrigation in Nagpur, he said urine was a “free fertiliser” that could help people grow bigger plants.

Saying he was embarrassed to speak about it, Mr Gadkari said: “I collected urine in a 50-litre can. I called the gardener and told him to water some plants with it. There was a clear difference — it grew one-and-a- half times bigger.”