On Sunday, Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi announced that he has cancelled all his public rallies in poll-bound West Bengal over the current coronavirus situation in the country. Rahul Gandhi also advised all other politicians to think about the consequences of holding large public rallies.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted to say that he has suspended all of his public rallies in West Bengal ahead of the 6th, 7th and 8th phases to be held on April 22, April 26 and April 29, respectively.
In view of the Covid situation, I am suspending all my public rallies in West Bengal.
I would advise all political leaders to think deeply about the consequences of holding large public rallies under the current circumstances.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 18, 2021
The Congress has been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for holding political rallies in West Bengal amid the rise in coronavirus cases in the country. And, even as states are battling with vaccine shortages and lack of oxygen, beds and critical COVID medicines.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has accused the prime minister of shocking callousness for holding big political rallies in poll-bound Bengal amid the rise in Covid-19 cases.
Chidambaram said the prime minister should be at his job, sitting at his desk and coordinating with chief ministers in handling the coronavirus pandemic.
Modi has been addressing public rallies in West Bengal for the eight-phase assembly elections in the state.
India has been witnessing a massive surge in coronavirus cases.
However, with the surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Election Commission (EC) has decided to curtail the timing of the campaign for the remaining phases of the election and extended the silence period to 72 hours for each of the phases.
In its order, the EC said that no rallies, public meetings, street plays, nukkad sabhas, shall be allowed on any day during the days of the campaign between 7 pm and 10 am.
The order has come into effect from 7 pm on Friday.
“Silence period for rallies, public meetings, street plays, nukkad sabha, bike rallies or any gathering for campaigning purposes shall be extended to 72 hours before the end of the poll for Phase 6, Phase 7 and Phase 8 in the State of West Bengal,” it said.
The Commission also took a serious view against repeated violations by star campaigners/political leaders/candidates who are supposed to be torch bearers for the campaign against COVID-19, grossly violating COVID-19 protocols, thereby exposing themselves as well as the public to the danger of infection.
West Bengal reported 6,910 new infections and 26 deaths just ahead of the polling in the fifth phase. According to the state health bulletin, the total count of cases has reached 6,43,795. The number of active cases in the state stands at 41,047.
