Off the record: July 19

Covid-19 tourism

The worldwide outbreak of Covid-19 may have brought the world to a standstill, tourism, perhaps, has been the worst affected of all major economic sectors. However, Kashmir has been reopened for tourism. Ironically, the order came on the same day when the administration imposed restrictions in parts of the valley, including Srinagar --the worst affected district. The valley residents have ridiculed the decision which has come when the region is witnessing a spike in Covid-19 positive cases and deaths. Tourists will have to undergo a Covid-19 test on arrival in Kashmir. If someone tests positive, he/she will be immediately sent for treatment to a medical facility as per the protocol. Can this be called Covid-19 tourism?

Zulfikar Majid, Srinagar

Rhino block

As 85% of Kaziranga National Park (KNP) in Assam remains under floodwater, a rhino found itself caught in the water, struggling to reach the National Highway 37 on Saturday morning. It was so exhausted that it sat on the highway near Bandordubi village, partially blocking traffic for about an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon. Police personnel had to be deployed to control vehicle movement to ensure that no harm was caused to the rhino. A medical examination was conducted by a team of veterinary experts from Guwahati, and on Sunday morning, the rhino slowly got back reentered the park. A total of 108 animals including eight rhinos have either drowned in floodwater or died in vehicle hits. Animals rush to Karbi Anglong hills on the other side of the highway to avoid floods.

Sumir Karmakar, Guwahati

Game plan

Having toppled the Kamal Nath government four months ago, the Shivraj Singh government faces no threat as it has a comfortable majority. Yet, the BJP is on a poaching spree. It has already poached two Congress MLAs in the last one week and is desperately trying to woo more opposition lawmakers. The desperation reportedly stems from the party’s internal assessment that most of the 22 Scindia-supporters, who helped form the government, are going to lose in the coming by-elections. The chief minister is keen to reduce dependence on Scindia whose dominance in the cabinet has annoyed the BJP old guard. The BJP needs only nine more seats to win in the forthcoming by-elections for 26 seats to retain a majority. To this end, the party has chalked out a plan to get at least half a dozen Congress MLAs to resign and to get them re-elected on BJP ticket in the by-polls.

Rakesh Dixit, Bhopal

New milestone

BJP supporters went gaga hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a global leader after he notched up more than 60-million followers on Twitter. Modi, who had taken to social media quite early, is known to use the platform extensively to reach out to supporters directly. According to BJP, Modi added 10 million supporters in the last 10 months. Among global leaders, US President Donald Trump has 83 million followers, while his predecessor Barack Obama has 120 million followers on Twitter. Congress took a jibe at the BJP saying had Modi dealt with issues such as the Covid-19 outbreak, economic crisis and the Chinese aggression effectively, his followers would have increased manifold.

Sagar Kulkarni, New Delhi

A diversion

Even though Kerala managed to flatten the Covid-19 curve swiftly in the initial phases of the outbreak, numbers are increasing alarmingly. This has become a serious cause for concern for the state. But the left-front government has some political reasons to heave a sigh of relief over this development. The government is on the defensive, owing to links of the CM’s principal secretary’s association with the gold smuggling accused. Though the Opposition is trying to make it a major issue, the alarming spike in Covid-19 is becoming a hurdle as they fear that attacking the government at the time of a pandemic may not go down well with the masses.

Arjun Raghunath, Thiruvananthapuram