Pandemic norms getting ignored at Political rallies in Bengal

West Bengal: Political rallies in the streets of Bengal have increased due to the spread of novel Corona virus cases in the country.

In the last month there have been hundreds of protests by political parties across the state against the failure of the state government to the failure of the Centre in handling the pandemic. There were public protests on the streets to demand electricity and water supply restoration in the result of Amphan Cyclone.

Despite repeated reminders on guidelines and strict orders issued by both state and central government, public meetings and gatherings became a regular affair. Social distancing norms have gone for a toss and political parties from Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and Left parties are all seen in many cases crossing social distancing norms.

In New Town earlier this month, Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh led hundreds of supporters without any social distancing. On being asked on this, he said, "Whatever the chief minister says is for the public while no one in her party follows it. Trinamool Congress has already started their meetings without any masks or social distancing asking others to follow the rules. We, at the BJP, have stopped all our meetings and even in the party office we have stopped registration because the transmission of Covid-19 can happen anywhere. Hence, we have taken this step to keep all our workers and society as a whole safe."

On the other hand, while Trinamool has been facing protests, the ruling party has not left a single opportunity to protest against the central government. In East Midnapore, Trinamool workers organised a mass meeting with nearly 300 people in the district's Samasad area this week.

However, rejecting all accusations, Trinamool leader Piyush Bhuiyan said, "We did not hold any mass meeting, I called for a meeting of TMC workers for some team work. But many people turned up out of excitement. We cannot send them home. Since TMC supporters are more in this area, it looked like a mass meeting."

Slamming TMC leaders, BJP district president Pralay Pal said, "TMC workers have arranged a mass meeting at Deulia. Trinamool workers have looted Amphan compensation money and are now conducting mass meetings, risking the lives of so many people during pandemic. Even when the chief minister has asked them to stay home, these TMC workers are continuing with their actions. I hope the administration acts against them."

Not just party workers, even top leaders and ministers in Bengal are not left behind. Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said, "We don't need to have a lot of people in the protests but there needs to be a 5 feet safe distance between every member. We need to protest against the evils of the society, so social distancing and masks are extremely important." Sarcastically, there was no social distancing in his meetings and rallies.

From TMC to Congress, BJP and CPI(M), every party has held protests on some issue or the other breaking pandemic norms. Congress and the Left Front had organised a joint protest march in Kolkata where a large number of workers had gathered flouting all social distancing norms.

Congress leader Sujit De said, "Too many people have arrived at the meetings, so we could not maintain social distancing. The next time we protest we will use umbrellas to create social distance."