SILIGURI : West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Sunday termed the killing of four Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers by Central forces in Cooch Behar during the fourth phase of polling on Saturday “genocide”. She also called the Prime Minister and Home Minister of the country “incompetent”.

Addressing the mediapersons, the West Bengal CM alleged, “It is genocide. We have decided to observe today as a black day. The forces fired on them directly. The CISF is trained to provide security to industries and not to control a mob. I could not sleep last night but the Prime Minister was eating sweets. Such an incompetent government, incompetent Prime Minister, incompetent Home Minister.” “I could not meet the families. I will meet them on April 14. I cannot be stopped. I respect the Election Commission. But they are changing the rules. This is now the BJP Code of Conduct. The system cannot be changed with the interest of a party. The institution will continue forever and the system is to be maintained. Everybody wants a free and fair election,” added the TMC chief. The Chief Minister had said that she will hold a protest rally in Cooch Behar on Sunday against the firing incident and visit the homes of the deceased.

As Delhi reported its highest single-day spike with 10,774 new Covid-19 cases, CM Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that the government will be left with no option but to impose lockdown if the condition in hospitals worsens. “Delhi government is not in favour of lockdown, but we will be left with no options if the situation worsens in hospitals,” he said. Earlier, the CM urged the Centre to free the inoculation drive from age restrictions. He backed up his demand saying that 65% of patients in Delhi from the infection are under 45 years of age.

CM Kejriwal urged people to check the availability of beds on the government’s app before going to hospitals. “Occupy beds only if there is an emergency,” he appealed to the citizens.

On Saturday, the Delhi government announced new guidelines for weddings, restaurants and cinemas and imposed restrictions on people coming in from Maharashtra. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority also issued guidelines that make it mandatory for people travelling by air from Maharashtra to Delhi to carry a negative RT-PCR test done 72 hours prior to arrival.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has knocked the doors of the Election Commission seeking action against Trinamool Congress candidate Sujata Mondal, who has allegedly described Scheduled Caste voters as “beggars by nature” in a video clip which has now gone viral in the poll-bound state.

A delegation led by Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi met the Chief Election Commissioner on Sunday afternoon and demanded necessary action against Mondal and her party under the provisions of the electoral laws, the Indian Penal Code, the SC/ST Act and the Model Code of Conduct.

The visiting delegation consisting of several Dalit MPs such as Dushyant Gautam, Hansraj Hans, Bhola Singh and Sunita Duggal also submitted a formal complaint.  

According to the BJP’s petition, TMC candidate Sujata Mondal said that the state’s SC voters were moving towards the BJP camp despite all the work Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had done for them because they were “beggars by nature”.

“Even though Mamata Banerjee has helped the poor Scheduled Castes, their scarcity will never mitigate. There is a saying that some are beggars by nature while others are beggars by circumstance,” the petition quotes Mondal.

Addressing mediapersons outside the EC headquarters, Naqvi said, “TMC›s thinking about Dalit and marginalised sections has now been exposed. An official candidate of TMC has made derogatory remarks against the SC community, saying the party did everything for them but for some monetary gains, they have now shifted to BJP. This is a criminal offense therefore we have demanded strict action to be taken against this candidate.”

The row began when Mondal made that statement in an interview with a news channel. The BJP shared a video clip of Mondal on Saturday on its official Twitter account in which the TMC candidate can be heard saying, “In Bengal, the Scheduled Caste people are beggars by nature. Even after everything Mamata Banerjee did for them, they are going after the little money that BJP is offering them. They are selling their votes to the saffron party.”

Earlier, Prashant Kishore, the chief strategist working to ensure TMC’s win in the Bengal polls, also admitted in a Clubhouse discussion that 27% of state’s SC population is supporting the BJP in the upcoming polls, implying that it shows how the BJP has emerged as formidable alternative to TMC in the state.

Meanwhile Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday challenged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to expel Trinamool Congress candidate Sujata Mondal who termed Dalits “beggars by nature”.

Speaking at an election rally at Basirhat Dakshin Assembly constituency of North Twenty Four Parganas district, Shah said, “Some days ago, a leader of Trinamool Congress has made a comment on the people of Dalit community and said that they are beggars by nature, look at this Didi what are they (TMC candidate) saying?”

“This Matua, Namasudra and the Rajvanshi community who are living here with pride, you (TMC) are calling them beggars and insulting them, if you have any shame left then expel your leader who had made this comment, but I know… you will not be able to do it, that is why, I am here to tell Didi that you are against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) because these Matua, Namasudra, and refugees will now be going to get citizenship here,” he added.

The Home Minister said that Mamata Banerjee is scared that if refugees of scheduled caste and other communities are given citizenship here, then those infiltrators will get annoyed.

Amid an exponential rise in Covid-19 cases and deaths, Maharashtra may see a two or three-week lockdown, sources said after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior officials met with the state’s Covid task force on Sunday.

Although no definite decision on a lockdown or further restrictions was taken at the meeting on Sunday, those in attendance felt that a lockdown is essential to curb the rise in cases, although the word ‘lockdown’ may be avoided to cause panic.

“Everyone was of the view that a lockdown should be imposed on the state. Some were of the view that the lockdown should be imposed for two weeks, some were in favour of a three-week lockdown. A meeting will be held again tomorrow,” state minister Aslam Sheikh said on Sunday evening after the meeting.

“The task force is of the view that the prevailing coronavirus situation is such that a lockdown is required, said state health minister Rajesh Tope, adding that the duration of the lockdown and how to handle its economic fallout were discussed in Sunday’s meeting.

The CM was also scheduled to meet bureaucrats on Sunday night. Another meeting will be held today to discuss the situation with trade associations.

Tope also said that Thackeray will take a decision on imposing lockdown after discussing it with Cabinet Ministers on Wednesday. The CM will hold discussions with the finance department and others to outline a relief package for poor workers who might face the brunt of another lockdown.

At the meeting on Sunday, a detailed discussion on medical facilities and the management of hospitals in Maharashtra was also carried out, besides the topic of setting up oxygen generation plants, increasing the number of hospital beds and the availability of Remdesivir injections, sources said. Coordination of the Centre and the state to control the surge in infections was also discussed.

As cases spiral in Maharashtra, its healthcare services have been stretched thin and various hospitals have reported a shortage of medical necessities such as oxygen and ventilators. Thackeray also took suggestions from the task force for the improvement of medical facilities and optimisation of available medical infrastructure and resources in the state, while working to increase them during the suggested lockdown.

Maharashtra is among the worst-hit states in India and is witnessing an alarming increase in Covid-19 cases. In the last 24 hours, the state saw 63,294 new cases and 349 deaths, taking its total positive cases to 34,07,245. State capital Mumbai reported 9,989 new cases.

There are now 5,65,587 active cases in the state. Out of the total cases, 91,100 have been reported from Mumbai, 74,335 from Thane, and 1,09,590 from Pune.

A total of 27,82,161 recoveries and 57,987 deaths have also been reported in the state so far. With 34,008 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate in the state is now 81.65 percent.

The Director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr Randeep Guleria, spoke exclusively to The Sunday Guardian, about the recent surge in infections caused by the novel coronavirus and the reasons behind it.

“People are neglecting Covid-appropriate behaviour, they have stopped wearing masks, maintaining social distancing and sanitising, and the virus has gotten an opportunity to spread,” said Dr Guleria.

“Metropolitan cities are getting more affected because urban mobilisation is more compared to rural areas. We stopped tracing, testing, treating and isolation too. Surveillance is important and more containment zones will help now as they helped earlier,” he added.

He said further, “Last year, when the pandemic struck the world, the virus mostly affected the elderly and people with comorbidities. But this time, younger people are also getting infected with mild symptoms. Children are being infected suddenly because they are getting exposed to the virus.”

“Young people are not serious about it and report cases only when the situation gets out of their control,” said the AIIMS director, adding, “More people with comorbidities are getting infected and the death rate has increased in some cases. But there is no data which suggests that the death rate has increased overall.”

He also warned that the new UK variant is dangerous and can spread from one person to ten at a time.

“If cases do not reduce, the healthcare system will get badly affected. Hospital infrastructure and medical staff is already under stress. It is necessary to strengthen infrastructure also,” he said further.

On the question of imposing a second lockdown, Dr Guleria said, “Weekend lockdowns and night curfews will control the situation, but not to a great extent. It’s important to make containment zones and impose micro-lockdowns where there are more cases.”

As more and more states flag shortage of Covid-19 vaccine doses, the Central government has pressed the accelerator to scale up vaccine production manifold. Top government sources told ANI that by end of the third quarter of this year, India will be getting vaccines from five additional manufacturers. India currently manufactures Covishield and Covaxin.

Explaining the new strategy to manufacture additional vaccine doses, a source said, “India currently has 2 Covid-19 vaccines being manufactured locally: Covishield and Covaxin, and we can expect five more vaccines by Q3 2021. These vaccines are Sputnik V vaccine (in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s), Johnson & Johnson vaccine (in collaboration with Biological E), Novavax vaccine (in collaboration with Serum India), Zydus Cadila’s vaccine, and Bharat Biotech’s Intranasal Vaccine. Safety and efficacy are the Union government’s primary concerns while granting emergency use authorisation (EUA) to any Covid-19 vaccine in the country.”

Out of almost 20 Covid-19 vaccines in various clinical and pre-clinical stages, Sputnik V vaccine will get the nod first. It is expected that Sputnik is likely to get the EUA within the next ten days.

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) has tied up with a host of Indian pharmaceutical players such as Hyderabad based Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hetero Biopharma, Gland Pharma, Stelis Biopharma and Vichrow Biotech for the production of vaccine doses. With a production capacity of 850 million doses in the country, Sputnik V will provide a major shot in the arm in the fight against Covid-19.

When asked from a top-level source when will the vaccines be available for use, he said, “Sputnik is expected to be available latest by June, if all goes well Johnson and Johnson ( Bio E) will be available by August, Cadilla Zydus will also be available by August, Novavex (Serum) by September and Nasal Vaccine (Bharat) by October.”

The government is making all efforts to accelerate the progress without cutting any corners in research, development, and clinical trial stages, the source added.

The government is taking all steps to augment vaccine production and availability in India. A decision has been taken at the highest level to ensure all steps are taken to help domestic manufacturers to scale up vaccine production manifold.

“The Government of India is determined to ensure India remains the pharmacy of the world and Indians have equitable access to the highest quality vaccines in the world. We encourage all Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers to come to India, as the Central government is ready to provide manufacturing assistance, financial support, and partnership in running and designing clinical trials,” sources added.India is currently facing the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic with the number of new cases increasing each day. ANI