Kerala records 50% of India's daily COVID-19 cases; BJP lashes out at Pinarayi Vijayan

In a massive surge of COVID-19 infections, Kerala clocked over 20,000 fresh cases accounting for more than 50% of India's daily rise in active cases. India registered 43,654 new cases on Wednesday, more than half of which were contributed by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led state. Even as the nation slowly recovers from a deadly second wave, Kerala has been troubled with a rising infection tally. Recording 22,129 fresh cases in a span of 24-hours, Kerala has also become the first state in more than 50 days to record over 20K cases.

BJP lashes out at Pinarayi Vijayan

With Kerala spiraling into a COVID crisis, BJP has hit out at the Chief Minister blaming Eid relaxations as a major cause of the spike. BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya stated that Muslim-majority areas such as the Malappuram district had clocked over 4000 cases in a day. Blaming it on the relaxations announced by the CPI-M government for Eid, Malviya said that the 'silence of secularists was deafening.'

Questioning the Kerala model, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra asked if the narrative of rising infections would still be built around the Kumbh Mela or the Kanwar Yatra.

BJP National General Secretary BL Santhosh also lashed out at Kerala's COVID-19 management, and asked Pinarayi Vijayan to 'wake up.'

Row over Bakrid relaxations

The Kerala state government's decision to relax COVID-19 norms ahead of the Eid celebrations had invited severe criticisms. The state had allowed a three-day relaxation ahead of Bakrid and had withdrawn lockdown restrictions on June 17. This allowed several establishments to remain open from July 18-20 from 7 am to 8 pm in category A, B, and C areas following the state decision. 

The decision was not only strongly opposed by the BJP, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), and other experts, but was also condemned by the Supreme Court. The SC had slammed the Kerala government for displaying a poor state of affairs and had accused it of 'buckling under pressure.' The SC had further expressed 'alarm' over the relaxing of restrictions in the ‘D’ category areas where the infection rate was highest at 15% calling it 'wholly uncalled for.'

“To give in to pressure groups so that the citizenry of India is laid bare to a nationwide pandemic discloses a sorry state of affairs,” a Bench of Justices Rohinton Nariman and B.R. Gavai noted.