Less than 24 hours after issuing an order imposing night curfew, the Karnataka government on Thursday did a U-turn and withdrew the curfew which was to be in place till January 2 morning.
This was following criticism not only from the Opposition Congress but also from within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on lack of consultation, according to government sources.
In a short statement on Thursday, Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said that the decision to withdraw the night curfew was taken “following public opinion that it was not required”. The decision was taken after consultations with Cabinet colleagues and senior officials, he said.
On the eve of Christmas and New Year celebrations, the Chief Minister appealed to the people to follow COVID-19-related rules and protocols strictly and cooperate with the government to contain the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday evening, the State government had issued the order clamping night curfew between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. starting from December 24 to January l (5 a.m. on January 2), 2021, for containing the spread of the new mutating strain of the coronavirus. Earlier on the same day, the government had announced a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m but eventually not only cut it by two hours but also allowed a slew of concessions within this period.
BJP legislators, including Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and A.H. Vishwanath, had expressed their reservations on the relevance of the night curfew from 11 p.m. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president D.K. Shivakumar too had termed the decision “illogical”. “From morning to evening, any number of people can come together. We had elections, the Assembly session and thousands of people coming together in markets,” Mr. Shivakumar said.
The State government’s flip-flop has left the State’s COVID-19 experts disconcerted.
In the absence of government restrictions, people should go in for self-imposed curfew and follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, they said. Otherwise, the State may witness a spike in cases in the first week of January, they warned.
Conflicting messages
Expressing displeasure over the government’s U-turn on night curfew, a senior member of the State’s COVID-19 expert committee said: “Messages by the government have to be clear and firm. You cannot waver on decisions on restrictions, especially during a pandemic.”
