Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Govind Patel on Sunday claimed that workers of his party were not affected by the coronavirus be...
Gujarat Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Govind Patel on Sunday claimed that workers of his party were not affected by the coronavirus because they worked hard. Patel was the state’s science and technology minister in 2014.
“Those who work, do labour work, remain unaffected by the coronavirus,” the MLA from Rajkot (South) told reporters, according to The Indian Express. “Workers of the BJP have done work, have done labour work and none of them has been infected.” Several BJP leaders, including Patel himself, have contracted the coronavirus in the past year.
Patel said people were behaving irresponsibly, leading to the surge in cases. “They are not wearing face mask while moving on roads, they sit in crowds while dining in a restaurant or having refreshment at lari-galla or paan shops, they form mobs,” the MLA said.
After his comment drew flak, however, Patel clarified that he had only meant to say labourers did not contract the coronavirus. “I wanted to say that labourers don’t contract coronavirus but added ‘BJP’ also in the same sentence, which is a mistake. I take my words back,” he said, according to ANI.
The MLA was responding to a question on whether the recent civic elections in the state were responsible for the spike in cases.
On March 10, the Gujarat High...Read more
