The re-christened partial lockdown across Rajasthan is in place from today till 17 May, following the declaration of election results across 3 districts of Rajasthan where by-elections were held last month.  These districts include Rajsamand, adjacent to Udaipur, which was retained by the BJP, Sahada and Sujangarh, where the Congress took hold of their positions.

Deepti Maheshwari, the BJP candidate who won the by-elections at Rajsamand got the party back to power on the sympathy wave following the demise of her mother ex-MP Late Kiran Maheshwari. Kiranji was infected by COVID-19 and succumbed to the infection, following which Deepti was picked up as the candidate from Rajsamand to cash in on the sympathy wave.

The government played it safe by announcing the lockdown near to the time when election campaigning ceased and kept the dates manipulated in a manner that does not affect the counting or the declaration of the result. The results of Rajsamand by-polls were declared in the midst of an ugly show of nonchalance to the COVID regulations imposed by the state.

However, during the election campaigning and even after the victory, Deepti and her election bandwagon was least bothered about ensuring safety for self and their voters and put COVID safety regulations on the shelf. Little did Deepti realize that it was this virus, which proved fatal for her mother, Late Kiran Maheshwari. Little did she realize the onus on her to educate people of her constituency at least by her show of concern and adhering to COVID safety norms.  This nonchalance was writ large on her face and that of her followers, when she appeared in a “selfie” video celebrating the BJP victory.  Where was the administrative order of strict action then? What was the Collector or SP doing then – when all of it was happening right under their nose?

Meanwhile, with strict orders under implementation across Udaipur and Rajasthan from today onward, the movement of people in the markets of the walled city area is something that defies logic and sanity. With mandi shops, foodstuff and groceries all being open in the morning hours, the crows in the walled area market of Dhanmandi was like any other day. The COVID-19 viral infection was have a field day.  These 4-5 hours of crowd is enough for the virus to play havoc. No wonder, inspite of the lockdown – the cases are not decreasing and maintaining the new normal of 1000 plus every day for the last 10 days. Will the administration do something about it? And why just the administration – will us, the people do something about it?