BJP protests over Aug 5 lockdown in Bengal, Trinamool rejects allegation

KOLKATA:The West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday hit out at the Trinamool Congress government in the state for announcing a statewide lockdown to arrest the spread of the coronavirus disease on August 5, the day on which the ground breaking ceremony for the Ram temple at Ayodhya is scheduled.

“We have urged the West Bengal government to reconsider its decision of enforcing a lockdown on August 5 and withdraw it. People are already saddened by the pandemic. The state government should not increase the burden,” said Dilip Ghosh president of Bengal BJP unit.

The Mamata Banerjeee government has declared complete state-wide lockdown on seven non-consecutive days in August, the first being on August 5. The dates, however, have been changed at least thrice.

The government had announced that bi-weekly lockdowns will be enforced every weekend but the dates were changed as they coincided with Bakr-Eid, Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan.

“They had earlier changed the dates four times. There is no harm if it is changed once more,” said Ghosh.

TMC spokesperson Sougata Roy, however, said that the “people can watch the bhoomi pujan at Ayodha on television sitting at home”.

Meanwhile, other opposition parties in the state attacked the government for “appeasement” and “incompetence”.

“Lockdown is enforced to control pandemic. It is very unfortunate that lockdown dates are being announced after taking into consideration religious occasions,” said Amitabha Chakraborty, senior Congress leader.