After Tableegi Jamaat, now Delhi CM blames Pollution for COVID 19 surge in Delhi




You remember Markaz? It was a buzzword in the beginning of COVID 19 pandemic in India on national television. Thanks to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Union Health Ministry and Media. That was a fake Markaz of Corona Virus and way to find out a scapegoat and Delhi CD had aptly found it – Thanks to Tableeghi Jamaat, a purely social organisation that preaches Islamic tenets among Muslims.

Unfortunately, Delhi has become truly a markaz of Corona Virus now. Markaz means epicentre or simply centre. But this time, Kejriwal shifts his blame game from Tableeghi and Markaz to Pollution and Stubble Burning in adjoining states.

In a public message, CM Kejriwal cited pollution as the biggest reason for the spike in cases. He claimed that the city has contained rising cases but after pollution increased, the number of cases also rose. “Pollution is the biggest reason behind the spike in COVID-19 cases in Delhi. We had the situation under control until October 20,” the CM claimed.

His remarks came a day after the city recorded 104 fatalities in a day, the highest in over five months. The fresh fatalities pushed the death toll to 7,332. Besides, it had recorded 7,053 fresh COVID-19 cases in the same period, after which the total tally in the national capital surpassed 4.67 lakh-mark.

The national capital had recorded its highest single-day spike of 8,593 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, while 85 deaths linked to the disease were recorded on that day.

BJP Parliamentarian Gautam Ganbhir from East Delhi took a jibe at Kejriwal’s public statement. “The message of CM – Pollution is increasing because of other states. COVID 19 is surging due to pollution. All will automatically be fixed. Till then keep watching me performing Diwali prayers on TV,” he tweeted.

Apart from Gautam Ganbhir, a division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad also slammed the AAP government for not taking measures to contain the virus.

“If Delhi Government is serious about implementing its policy/strategy to contain the infection, then we would have thought that by now, there would have been some sanctions through appropriate legislation for enforcing the wearing of masks in public places.”

The number of mounting cases does not support the submission of the Delhi Government that they are taking measures to control the situations, the bench noted.

The court directed the Delhi Government to file a Status Report setting out the steps taken by it in the past two weeks to control the COVID-19 infection and the manner in which it proposes to deal with the other issues flagged by this court.

Liked it? Take a second to support The TMC Desk on Patreon!