New Delhi: The country is once again in the thick of electioneering, with assembly polls scheduled soon in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. But, with the recent spurt in COVID-19 cases, the third wave of the pandemic has begun, as the more transmissible omicron variant spreads. Political parties ignored the perils of rallies until very recently and went ahead with business as usual. Even if belatedly, it is only now that parties have begun to come to terms with the emerging COVID-19 scenario to call off rallies and to gear up for more COVID-appropriate electioneering.
The Congress has taken the lead this time around, calling off all its rallies in the poll-bound states and more particularly in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party (SP) too followed suit. However, the BJP, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are yet to make official statements in this regard although they have cancelled a few of their rallies.
With the notification for elections yet to be released, the Election Commission says it cannot impose any restrictions on political rallies yet and said it is for the state governments to act in tune with the emerging situation.
“Our responsibility begins after poll dates are announced and the model code of conduct kicks in. Till then, the responsibility lies with the state government, and they would act as per recommendations of the state disaster management authority,” chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra said recently.
The horrifying memories of the second wave — huge political rallies turning into super spreader events; lack of oxygen cylinders and hospital beds; crematoriums struggling to handle incoming dead bodies; and dead bodies floating in Ganga — have not deterred parties to operate business as usual.
Also read: Did Political Rallies Contribute to an Increase in COVID-19 Cases in India?
The number of fresh COVID cases have increased four times in the last three days in Uttar Pradesh, with areas in the NCR and Lucknow being the worst hit. On January 4 alone, UP recorded a total of 2,038 fresh cases. According to Amit Mohan Prasad, state additional chief secretary (health), the test positivity rate in Uttar Pradesh has gone up sharply.
BJP’s election campaign
Although BJP is yet to make any official statement on political rallies, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath cancelled his proposed public meeting in Noida scheduled for Thursday, December 6. Adityanath was to distribute tablets and smartphones to youth at Noida University. However, no reasons have been cited for the cancellation of the programme, and whether if it was cancelled to COVID-19 or any other reason.
The same cannot be said about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed a massive rally in Manipur, another poll-bound, recently. Although he was to address another huge rally in Punjab’s Ferozpur on Wednesday, January 5, it was called off after his cavalcade could not reach the venue after a “security lapse”.
BJP supporters hold posters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they wait at the venue of PMs rally after it was cancelled, amid rain in Ferozepur, January 5, 2022. Photo: PTI
There is also no official word on Modi’s proposed rally in Lucknow on January 9, which is expected to draw huge crowds. However, there is speculation that it could be “postponed” due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Like in the second wave, where BJP addressed massive rallies in West Bengal and Assam with none less than Narendra Modi and Amit Shah taking the lead, the BJP’s response this time around has also been that of negligence. To cite an example, Adityanath recently made light of the issue, describing omicron as “a common viral fever” and saying that COVID-19 was on its way out.
Congress campaign
Although Congress took the lead in announcing the cancellation of all its rallies, it came only after shocking visuals emerged from Uttar Pradesh where hundreds of women and teen girls were seen without masks at a marathon organised by the party as part of its ‘Ladki Hun, Lad Sakti Hun’ election campaign. The visuals went viral bringing back the horror of the second wave of the pandemic.
Following this, the Congress national leadership decided to cancel all major rallies and asked state party units to take a call on whether or not to hold planned political events only after assessing the ground-level scenario.
“Congress has decided to postpone major rallies in UP and other poll-bound states. We have asked state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their states and then take a decision on holding rallies,” said K.C. Venugopal, Congress’ national general secretary (0rganisation).
Additionally, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu has written a letter to the Election Commission to ban all political rallies and big meetings in the wake of COVID-19 spread at the behest of Priyanka Gandhi.
Instead, the party has sought permissions for the door-to-door campaigns and small gatherings from the Election Commission.
Girls participate in Congresss Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon marathon in Bareilly, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. A stampede-like situation occured in the marathon. Photo: PTI.
Speaking to The Wire, All India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary in-charge of communication, Pranav Jha, said the decision by the Uttar Pradesh unit was taken after the general secretary (organisation) Venugopal asked all the state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their respective areas.
“The state units were told that keeping public safety in mind take steps to avoid the spread of COVID-19. In keeping with the direction, the Uttar Pradesh unit has decided that it would postpone all big rallies for 15 days.”
He said the decision was taken so that “there was no large gathering of people and as such no danger to them”. The decision was taken particularly in light of the particular kind of programmes were going on – like the marathons for which children were coming out in large numbers.
Also read: UP Elections: Congress Cancels Marathon Races, Big Rallies Amid COVID-19 Surge
On why a similar decision to discontinue big rallies in other poll-bound states like Uttarakhand and Punjab was not taken, Jha said other state units had also been told to assess the situation arising out of COVID-19 and take decisions. “They have been asked to appraise the party of their assessment and take necessary steps.”
Jha also questioned why the ruling BJP did not follow such measures. “The day we cancelled our rallies in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rallies in Punjab. But nobody asked questions of him.”
Samajwadi Party campaign
Following the Congress party, Samajwadi Party cancelled its ‘Ayodhya Vijay Rath Yatra’ which was scheduled to take place on January 9 and in which the party chief Akhilesh Yadav was supposed to participate. Similarly, other major upcoming rallies in Basti, Gonda and Ayodhya, in which the SP chief was to participate, have also been called off.
Speaking to The Wire, SP spokesperson Juhie Singh said that the party hadn’t reached a formal decision whether to cancel party rallies or not in the future, but added that keeping in mind, the evolving COVID-19 situation Akhilesh Yadav had already cancelled three of his upcoming rallies in Basti, Gonda, and Ayodhya this week.
“We will take a decision soon on big rallies while counting on our smaller gatherings. As a party, we are aware of how painful COVID-19 has been for thousands of families in UP over the last two years, and all our decisions will be taken keeping that in mind and in accordance with the evolving situation.”
She also said that chief minister Adityanath was responsible for such mismanagement of the pandemic in UP.
“Even now in the midst of a possible third wave, he has gone ahead and announced a grand Kumbh Snana. I don’t think he is going to cancel that. It only goes on to show his insensitivity towards people’s miseries.”
AAP campaign
Fear gripped AAP after Delhi chief minister and party chief campaigner Arvind Kejriwal tested positive for COVID-19 a day after he addressed a meeting in Uttarakhand. However, the party is yet to announce any decision on whether or not it will go ahead with planned political events.
In the week prior to contracting the virus, Kejriwal held at least four major rallies and marches in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. AAP has been on an aggressive campaign, trying to position itself as a national party, an alternate force to BJP and Congress.
From January 10, the party intends to hold its rath yatras in Uttar Pradesh. Party MP and UP in-charge will lead these rallies where huge crowds are expected to turn up.
Possible surge in cases
Meanwhile, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan on January 3 briefed the EC on the situation with regard to omicron. With polls in five states, he raised concerns that the large rallies and roadshows by political parties may lead to an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases.
During the second wave of the pandemic in the country in the summer of 2021, such a rise had been seen throughout poll campaigning in states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Assam.
According to the Union health ministry, last year, the country’s COVID-19 curve started going up around late February. It was around this time, crowded political gatherings, attended mostly by crowds without masks, were held in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam. The situation continued well into April 2021. It was only after a surging number of COVID-19 cases and severe criticism, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called off his campaign in West Bengal. Incidentally, it was only an hour after the PM announced his decision that the Election Commission banned public gatherings of over 500 people.