The Congress party has announced that it is cancelling all the upcoming ‘big’ election rallies which were scheduled in Uttar Pradesh and other four election-bound states. On 5 January 2022, Congress general secretary KC Venugopal informed that the party took this decision today considering the current situation of COVID-19 pandemic. The five states where assembly elections are scheduled to take place in the next couple of months are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur.
Earlier, it was reported that the Congress party has cancelled its election rallies only in Uttar Pradesh, where it has no electoral prospect. Congress spokesman Lallan Kumar had said that the party has cancelled its big poll rallies in Uttar Pradesh till the Covid-19 situation improves on the instruction of general secretary Priyanka Gandhi. The party also cancelled the marathon races it had planned in the state after a marathon in Barreily had resulted in a stamped-like situation. Marathon races were scheduled to take place in Azamgarh, Varanasi, Ghaziabad and Aligarh this week, but they stand cancelled now.
Later today the party announced that it is cancelling all big election rallies in all five poll-bound states, not just Uttar Pradesh. Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, while addressing to media, said, “Congress has decided to postpone major rallies in Uttar Pradesh and other poll-bound states. We have asked state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their states and take a decision on holding rallies.”
Congress has decided to postpone major rallies in Uttar Pradesh and other poll-bound states. We have asked state units to assess the COVID-19 situation in their states& take a decision on holding rallies: Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal to ANI
— ANI (@ANI) January 5, 2022
(File photo) pic.twitter.com/N94PaWltj5
Reportedly, the party will organise small gatherings through ‘Nukkad Natak’ and conduct door-to-door campaigns to reach out to the voters ahead of the assembly polls.
Even though the party announced that it is cancelling ‘big’ election rallies, it didn’t define what are ‘big’ rallies. Moreover, the party is replacing ‘big’ rallies with small gatherings, which means it will still hold election rallies on a smaller scale.
There has been an increasing demand from various sectors to cancel rallies or even postpone elections in view of the impending third wave of Covid-19 in the country, particularly driven by the Omicron variant. By taking this decision, the Congress party may be able to force other parties also to suspend big poll rallies.
However, this step taken by Congress is seen as an attempt to cover up the stampede incidence in Bareilly that happened during a marathon organized with a rally of Priyanka Gandhi who is on her election tour titled “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon.” It is notable that few teen girls were injured in that incident and Congress has seemingly taken this decision in response to the criticism on the party after irresponsible statements by the party members in support of this mishap.
What exactly happened in Bareilly?
It is now almost evident that the decision taken by the Congress party is largely influenced by the outrage and criticism it had to face after the Bareilly stampede incidence. It had happened during a marathon organized by the local Congress leader and ex-mayor of the city Supriya Aron. It was supposedly organized in line with the current campaign of the Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, which is titled “Ladki hoon, lad sakti hoon.”
As the marathon was started girls and women started running. In a matter few seconds, girls in the front rows fell down. They were followed by hundreds of women and girls running behind them. The girls survived the injuries. Had the runners behind them not been stopped, it would have been a yet bigger stampede that could have cause even the death of a few of them. Congress had to face a lot of criticism for this. Adding to the worse Surpiya Aron termed it as a result of human tendency. This too attracted a lot of outrage in social media.
Shocking visuals from Bareilly, #UttarPradesh!!
— Priti Gandhi – प्रीति गांधी (@MrsGandhi) January 4, 2022
A stampede like situation has occurred at the Congress marathon. Several girls fell & have been hurt. Thankfully no lives were lost. Is it right to play with human lives to fulfill your political ambitions, @priyankagandhi ji?? pic.twitter.com/lkWXYrKDbw
As the number of new Covid-19 cases in the country keeps rising, abiding by the original election schedule also looks subject to the situation. At this juncture, Congress has cleverly shifted the reason of cancelling the rallies to the current COVID-19 situations and dodged the decisions of resuming the rallies towards its state entities.
