UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath cancelled his Thursday’s rally in Noida because the district has reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Meanwhile, the Congress too on Wednesday cancelled all political rallies and programmes in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh after shocking scenes yesterday from an event in Bareilly district, in which hundreds of women and teen girls were seen without masks and in a near-stampede situation.
It is however unclear if the ruling BJP plans to follow the Congress’ lead in scrapping all political events and rallies – which draw crowds of thousands that make it difficult to maintain Covid safety protocols – as concern spreads over a third wave of infections led by the more transmissible Omicron strain.
In scary visuals from Tuesday, hundreds of women and teen girls were seen without masks at a marathon organised by the Congress as part of the party’s ‘ladki hun, lad sakti hun’, or women can fight, election campaign.