'Follow Covid Rules or Postpone Bharat Jodo Yatra': Centre's Letter to RaGa, Gehlot Sparks BJP vs Cong

Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya has written to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot asking them to ensure strict adherence to Covid guidelines during Bharat Jodo Yatra or postpone it. Use of masks and sanitiser should be implemented and only vaccinated people should be allowed to participate in the yatra, the health minister’s letter said.

Citing concerns raised by three BJP MPs over the spread of coronavirus, the letter further said that if proper follow-up of Covid regulations is not possible, then the yatra should be stopped keeping in mind the ‘public health emergency’ situation.

Mandaviya’s letter comes amid renewed health concerns triggered by a fresh spurt in Covid cases globally. The Minister said three MPs from Rajasthan — P P Chaudhary, Nihal Chand and Devji Patel — have flagged concerns and requested him to ensure that participants are isolated before and after taking part in the march. He urged Gandhi and Gehlot to take prompt action keeping in view the requests made by the three MPs in Rajasthan.

The yatra has, meanwhile, entered Haryana on Wednesday from Rajasthan.

Letter Sparks Row

Reacting to the letter, the Congress has called it a tactic to ‘divert’ people’s attention and said BJP-led Central government is scared of the momentum created by the Yatra.

“Due to the Bharat Jodo yatra, the Modi government is scared. To divert people’s attention they are raising questioning. Had PM Modi worn a mask during his yatra?” said Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot claimed the BJP-led Central government was ‘scared’ of the public support the Yatra received in the state and the letter was aimed to ‘disturb the Bharat Jodo Yatra’.

“The Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan was completed on the morning of December 21, but the BJP and Modi Government are so scared of the huge crowd gathered here that the Union Health Minister wrote a writing a letter on December 20 to Rahul Gandhi to follow the Covid protocol in Rajasthan,” he tweeted in Hindi.

“This clearly shows that BJP’s aim is to disturb the Bharat Jodo Yatra fearing the increasing public support,” he added.

He further noted that two days ago the Prime Minister held a rally in Tripura where no Covid protocol was followed. “In the second wave of Covid, PM did big rallies in Bengal…If the Union Health Minister’s objective is not political and his concern is justified, then he should have written the first letter to the Prime Minister,” Gehlot said in another tweet.

Noting that the BJP is taking out yatras in Karnataka and Rajasthan, Congress leader Pawan Khera asked if Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya had sent letters to them too.

“Please announce Covid protocols, we will follow them,” Khera told reporters here “Why just Rahul Gandhi, why just Congress party, why just Bharat Jodo Yatra?” he asked.

Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen also reacted to the health ministry’s letter and said, “they could’ve issued advisory. We’re at Parliament but no circular came for wearing masks or taking preventive measures. Not the sole duty of the Centre to boss over state governments. Their responsibility is towards the public in which they fail, we don’t expect much from them.”

Meanwhile, amid Congress’ criticism of the letter, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said nobody is above protocol. “I want to ask whether the specific family is above all protocols. I can believe that the family gets more importance in the party than its president but they have to follow Covid protocols,” he said. 

Centre’s High-Level Covid Review Meet Amid Rising Cases

The Centre has also called a coronavirus review meeting on the Covid situation which will be presided over by Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya.

Moreover, the Centre on Tuesday also wrote to all states to increase genome sequencing to track Covid variants for timely identification of any possible cluster.

The cases in India are low as of now, even as the Covid tally climbed to 4,46,76,330 on Wednesday with 131 fresh infections. The number of active cases came down to 3,408, according to the Union health ministry data.

However, cases have risen in some countries such as Japan, South Korea, Brazil, China and the US. China has been seeing a surge in cases ever since it relaxed the strict zero-Covid restrictions last month following rare public protests. Infections have been spreading rapidly after that — the daily case count touched new records in the first two weeks of this month.

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