West Bengal: Lockdown date changed four times in 15 days

- Opposition rained on Mamata Banerjee - What is happening?

- Mamata often changes her mind to please the minority

Kolkata Ta. Thursday 13 August 2020

Opposition parties, including the Congress and the BJP, have strongly opposed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's announcement of a change in the lockdown dates. Mamata had changed the lockdown dates for the fourth consecutive time in the last fortnight.

Earlier, on August 5, when the Prime Minister paid homage to the land of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Mamata made a surprise announcement and declared a lockdown in the state. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck. This time once again Mamata announced the lifting of the lockdown on 28th August. The BJP alleged that the decision was taken to appease people of a particular community. August 28 is a Friday so Mamata made this decision keeping in mind the convenience of the people of a particular com.

A Congress spokesperson said Mamata should talk to top doctors before imposing a lockdown. It was also alleged that repeated lockdown decisions adversely affected Corona's intentions.

West Bengal Chief Secretary Rajiv Sinha on Wednesday announced that a lockdown had been announced earlier on August 27 and 28. But now the 28th will not be a complete lockdown. The reason given for this was that the 28th would not be a complete lockdown as the two-day lockdown was likely to adversely affect the banking, commerce industry and administrative affairs. Then there will be a complete lockdown on Monday 31st August.

Earlier this month, it was announced that there would be a five-day lockdown this month, but it was later announced that the lockdown would now be four days. Thus Mamata was frequently arbitrarily changing lockdown dates.