Irony is dancing to a morbid tune in Gujarat. On a day the state government announced the extension of night curfew from 11 pm to 5 am from Saturday in view of increasing Covid-19 cases, the ruling BJP has announced a special camp to provide free blood sugar tests to about 1.20 lakh people. Social distancing much?
This as coronavirus figures paint an already-lived nightmarish picture with Gujarat posting an astounding 85% rise in Omicron infections on Friday. The state had registered 1,060 cases between December 10 and December 24 and has been reporting at least 100 new coronavirus cases every day for the last three days. With three deaths on Friday, total fatalities have reached 10,111. The state has reported 43 Omicron patients so far.
Alarmed over the spike, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had on Thursday convened a high-level meeting to review the Covid-19 situation.
In the meeting, the state administration took note of the fact that the Delhi Government has banned all New Year festivities and decided to ban all social, political, sports, entertainment, religious and cultural events in halls and auditoriums in Gujarat. It was also decided to extend the night curfew until December 31.
It was also informed that facilities had been created for institutional quarantine for visitors coming to Gujarat from abroad and their extensive testing and contact tracing.
The meeting was attended by Health Minister Rishikesh Patel, K Kailashnathan, Chief Principal Secretary to the CM, Chief Secretary Pankaj Kumar, ACS (Home) Raj Kumar and others.
Amidst all this, the state government is also reportedly keen on hosting a high-octane Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit next month. While the government may not cancel the summit altogether, it is likely to be held either through video conferencing or turned into a hybrid event where certain events would be offline while some online.
Reality bites
Seemingly oblivious to the grim reality, the BJP cadres have been tasked to mobilise at least 200 people in as many as 579 blocks across the state. According to a press release from the state BJP headquarters, a special check-up camp is being organised to commemorate former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee on his birth anniversary on December 25.
The press release claims the target is to test blood-sugar levels of 1.20 lakh people and that “it will be a world record.” The camp will be organised from 7.30 am to 10 am. All the BJP MPs, MLAs and senior party functionaries have been asked to remain present in every block.
Gujarat BJP President CR Paatil would be stationed in Junagadh and General Secretary (Organisation) Ratnakar would be in Gandhinagar. As many as 1,200 doctors assisted with 2,300 health staff would be deployed for the health check-up camp.
A laundry list of Covid fouls
This isn’t the first such incident where the ruling party had desecrated Covid norms. Soon after the party appointed Paatil as the state president in July last year, there were scores of public events organised across the state to felicitate him. Several BJP leaders, including Paatil, had contracted Covid-19 after the public celebrations.
Similarly, in October last year, by-elections to as many as eight assembly seats were held despite several appeals and even petitions in the Gujarat High Court.
Diwali followed the elections and the state was witness to huge crowds thronging the markets. It was only after a strong reprimand by the Gujarat High Court that the state government imposed a night curfew in January which has continued since then.
Come February and March, elections were held for six municipal corporations, 33 district panchayats and hundreds of local bodies. And from March-end, the dreaded second wave of coronavirus struck. The rest is history.
