Dubai: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has, during her nearly decade-long rule in the state, often invited criticism for her ‘antics’ during the roadshows. Her critics felt that she had failed to shake off the streetfighting streak in her DNA - a result of being the face of the opposition against the Left Front rule in her state for over three decades.
However, it’s this hands-on and often ‘‘fearless’’ approach - in these troubled times of the coronavirus pandemic - which has been winning her the applause of her state’s people as well as one of her biggest critics - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Indian PM, who had a conference call with the chief ministers of all states on March 20 to work out a blueprint to fight the virus which is fast making inroads in India, called her up on Saturday morning to praise her initiatives during which Ms Banerjee once again apprised him about the lack of testing labs in the state.
There are only two accredited labs in governmental hospitals in the state - both located in Kolkata - while the private hospitals are yet to to be given the green signal from the Union Ministry of Health.
A video tweeted by Derek O’Brien, Rajya Sabha MP and leader of her party Trinamool Congress and a senior spokesperson, went viral which showed Ms Banerjee - clad in her trademark white saree, slippers and a chalk in hand - stooping to draw circles on the road at a streetside market to illustrate the ideal distance that should be maintained for social distancing to combat the spread of the virus. It’s the local neighbourhood markets which had been posing a big headache for the police and administration - as people are flocking there in hordes every morning for ‘panic buying’ of essantials.
‘‘No words,’’ O’Brien remarked in his tweet. There has been a noticeable swing in the mood of the common public in favour of the way Ms Banerjee has pitched herself in the forefront of the battle while on Friday, she stepped out to distribute essential commodities to people at Kalighat night shelter amid nationwide lockdown.
Earlier, Banerjee had written to Chief Ministers of 18 states requesting them to provide basic amenities such as shelter, food and medical support to the migrant workers of West Bengal stranded in their states due to the lockdown - to which states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Maharashtra have responded so far.
Five more positive Covid-19 cases have been reported from West Bengal on Friday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 15.
