New Delhi: Not a single case of Covid has been reported from among participants of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress claimed minutes after Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that several people in the march had tested positive.
“This is completely bogus news and latest from the BJP lie factory. Not a single case,” AICC general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh told ThePrint.
The allegation from the health minister came after newly-elected Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had tested positive for Covid on 19 December, days after participating in the walkathon.
When asked about Sukhu contracting the virus, Ramesh said: “Himachal Pradesh CM certainly did not pick it up during the yatra.”
Earlier in the day, during his interaction with the media on the Parliament premises, Mandaviya said that he had taken experts’ advice before asking for adherence of Covid protocols in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
He also remarked that the Congress’s response to him – “a small associate of the Pradhan Sewak (a reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s description of himself as the servant of the people)” – “amounted to an obstruction in carrying out his mandate” as the country’s health minister”.
Mandaviya had, on Tuesday, written to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking for Covid protocols, such as wearing of masks and using hand sanitizers, be followed in the Bharat Jodo Yatra, failing which, the march should be suspended.
He also said that only vaccinated people be allowed to participate and called for a protocol that ensures participants are isolated before and after taking part in the foot march.
In the letter, he had cited a state of “Public Health Emergency.”
Congress leaders have since questioned the note and lack of a similar communication to other political parties, including the BJP which has been taking out smaller yatras in poll-bound Karnataka and Rajasthan.
Ramesh hit out at the seeming discrepancies, saying “public health is far too serious an issue on which to play party politics” and “if there is a protocol for gatherings, Bharat Jodo Yatra will abide by it undoubtedly”.
In a statement, he said: “Parliament is meeting normally. Masks are no longer compulsory anywhere including on flights. BJP has taken out yatras in Rajasthan and Karnataka. There has been no advisory from the Centre to states of late except the one issued yesterday on genome sequencing. It also bears recall that in March 2020, the Modi govt delayed imposition of lockdown by at least a week to enable the toppling of the Congress govt in MP.”
The official guidelines currently for Covid has protocols in place for people meeting at malls, entertainment parks as well as religious gatherings. However, there are no instructions for political gatherings such as Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Operational guidelines
Health ministry officials, meanwhile, have cited the “Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in context of Covid-19”, issued in June 2022, as the document that needs to be adhered to.
In a statement issued by the Press Information Bureau after Mandaviya’s review meeting Wednesday, the ministry said: “A new and highly transmissible BF.7 strain of the Omicron variant has been found to be behind a wider surge of Covid infections in China. Union Health Ministry has already issued “Operational Guidelines for Revised Surveillance Strategy in context of Covid-19” in June 2022 which calls for early detection, isolation, testing and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. Union Health Minister directed officials to ensure effective implementation of the same.”
The guidelines include provisions for surveillance of international travellers, health facility and laboratory-based surveillance and also wastewater surveillance to detect any emerging Covid outbreak early.
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