Congress postones all UP rallies

In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress on Wednesday postponed all political rallies and programmes in view of a rise in Covid-19 cases. The party had planned at least seven to eight marathons in various districts of the states in the coming days. On Tueasdy, a stampede-like situation was reported in one such marathon in Bareilly. Videos had emerged from the site, which showed some girls tripping and falling to the ground while running in the marathon. Those coming from behind had to suddenly stop, leading to more participants falling down. Some of the participants have received injuries. The participants were also seen without masks.The state unit of the Congress, led by party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi has been organising the 'Ladki Hoon, Lad Sakti Hoon' (I am a girl and I can fight) poll campaign with months to go for the assembly elections.

The crowd filled an entire road and, as they started, a few women in the front tripped and fell down, leading to a brief scare as hundreds pushed to get past those in the front. The situation almost led to a stampede; fortunately, no one was injured. Congress leader and former Bareilly mayor Supriya Aron, who organised the event, played down the scare and deflected concerns by pointing to the stampede at the Vaishno Devi shrine. In UP, rallies are attended by tens of thousands of people, the majority of whom are usually without face masks. Worse, zero social distancing is usually observed during such events.