BJP curbs its poll rallies amid COVID surge; only 500 in meetings, 6 cr masks to be given

In a bid to scale down poll campaigns amid the COVID surge, BJP on Monday, announced that it has decided to cancel all its big rallies, public meetings, and programmes for the upcoming Bengal polls. BJP also announced that all Central ministers including PM Modi will hold small public meetings where not more than 500 people will be in attendance. All such meetings will strictly follow all COVID-19 guidelines.

BJP curbs rallies

BJP has also set a target of distributing 6 crore masks and sanitisers in these small meetings across Bengal. Launching 'Apna booth - Corona Mukt', BJP is preparing to launch dedicated COVID helpdesks and helpline numbers in all states across India. Lauding PM Modi's efforts in making India the fastest to complete 1 crore vaccinations, BJP has urged all its members to help the Centre in the nationwide vaccination drive. Moreover, 115 LED screens will be put up across the poll-bound state by the BJP.

Bengal rallies flout COVID norms

With BJP, Trinamool and the Congress-Left alliance entangled in battle for Bengal, top leaders like PM Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Choudhury are holding massive rallies and roadshows across the state. Visuals shared by these leaders show massive crowds flouting social distancing guidelines, not wearing masks, cheering as the nation battles a second COVID-19 wave. With experts expressing concern over the lack of any social distancing in these rallies, many have criticised these politicians for sending the wrong message amid a pandemic. While CPM has announced it won't hold big rallies, Rahul Gandhi has cancelled all his remaining public meetings.

Following suit, Congress' Bengal president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury decided that no star campaigner of the party will hold any big public meeting in view of COVID-19. Similarly, Mamata Banerjee has decided to not campaign any further in Kolkata, except for a "symbolic" meeting on the last day of campaigning in Kolkata on April 26. Moreover, TMC said that all poll rallies for West Bengal elections conducted by CM Mamata Banerjee will not be longer than 30 minutes. On the other hand, PM Modi has decided to club is rallies on two different days on a single day, amid COVID-19 surge. The polling for the remaining phases will take place on April 22, April 26 and April 29. Meanwhile, the election results will be declared on May 2.