Guwahati: The Asom Songrami Mancha, a regional political party of the state on Sunday alleged that Dispur’s decision to impose ‘total lockdown’ in the Kamrup metro district and a state-wide curfew was immature and doubtful.    

Working president of the Mancha, Adip Kumar Phukan said, “In the second wave of flood, 4.62 lakh people have been affected in the state. 1289 villages and 37,313 hectares of agricultural land have been submerged by floodwater while 98 people have lost their lives in the flood. Despite knowing all these, the state government’s decision to impose a total lockdown in Guwahati and a state-wide curfew was immature and doubtful.”

Phukan alleged that the BJP-led state government was conspiring to quarantine the entire residents of the state in the name of coronavirus to gain political advantage. “We ask Dispur to make it clear, whether the imposition of the ‘total lockdown’ was social, medical or a political move,” Phukan said.

He alleged that the decision to provide only two days to gather essential items right before the lockdown had forced the city residents to create unprecedented gatherings in every shop located across the city. “The BJP government has simply compounded the vulnerability of coronavirus infection in Guwahati by forcing the people to collect their essentials in a short span of time negotiating in a large gathering,” Phukan said.   

He added, “After failing to accomplish its own promises highlighted in the election manifesto, the BJP is attempting to overcome the 2021 assembly election by putting the opposition political parties in captive besides containing the people of the state at home in the name of coronavirus.”