Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh.

West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh has claimed that the coronavirus pandemic was over and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was forcefully imposing lockdowns to prevent any BJP public meetings ahead of the Assembly elections next year.

While addressing a packed rally in Hooghly, the BJP leader said: “Corona has left. Didi is only putting up a show and enforcing lockdowns to ensure the BJP cannot hold any rallies. No one can stop us.”

Ghosh’s remarks came on a day when over 3,000 people, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma, tested positive while 41 succumbed to the virus. The overall tally mounted to 1,93,175 while the death toll stood at 3,771.

The Trinamool Congress mocked Ghosh for his comments and asked him to visit a doctor. “Every day we are witnessing a spike of 3000 cases in Bengal and more than 95,000 cases in the country. And BJP state president Dilip Ghosh is making a hilarious statement that COVID-19 is gone ! I think he should visit a doctor for his treatment,” TMC MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay said.

Earlier in the day, BJP chief J P Nadda accused the Trinamool Congress government of having an “anti-Hindu mindset and spawning political violence in the state, which has claimed the lives of over 100 BJP workers”.

“When the entire country was watching the ‘bhoomi pujan’ (of Ram temple in Ayodhya), Mamata Banerjee imposed a lockdown in West Bengal on August 5 to prevent people from being part of the occasion at the local level,” Nadda said while digitally addressing the newly-formed state committee of the saffron party.

“In sharp contrast, lockdown was withdrawn due to Bakrid. This shows that the state government’s policies are driven by an anti-Hindu mindset and appeasement politics,” PTI quoted Nadda as saying.