SHILLONG, April 16: Health Minister and BJP leader, AL Hek, on Friday said the public cannot be punished for not wearing a mask if the politicians themselves do not follow the COVID-19 protocols.
“How will you punish people when we are holding election rallies in defiance of the COVID protocols? Not just us but the leaders of various political parties, several chief ministers and central leaders campaigned in West Bengal and Assam,” Hek said. He said the politicians should see if they are maintaining the COVID-appropriate behaviour before recommending punishment for the public for not adhering to the protocols.
The health minister claimed every time he visited the Garo Hills region for the recently-held Garo Hills Autonomous District Council election campaign, he had ensured that thousands of masks were distributed to the people attending his rallies. He said appeals were also made to them to follow the protocols.
When pointed out that the constituents of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) were severely criticised for not following the protocols during the poll campaign, Hek said, “We maintained the protocols. I had personally distributed the masks to people in many meetings. I have no comments to make on what people are saying”.
The state government recently came under severe criticism, especially from the Congress, after the MDA constituents had got away despite holding massive rallies and the citizens on the street were penalised for not wearing the mask.
‘Polls, meets contributed to COVID-19 spread’
Opposition Chief Whip, PT Sawkmie, said election campaigns and political meetings in the five states, including Assam, were the super spreaders of COVID-19.
He said the Election Commission had not issued any guidelines for the political parties and the candidates despite the country started witnessing a spike in the COVID cases.
“We have seen many big rallies but there were no restrictions related to COVID-19. The state authorities had also called for the GHADC polls since the Election Commission did not issue any guidelines,” Sawkmie said.
As Mawryngkneng and Rajabala are set to go to by-elections, he asked the state Election department as well as the Election Commission to come up with new guidelines keeping in mind the health of people.
Earlier, he maintained that the recent political rallies and festivals in some states were the main reasons behind the spike in the cases in the country.