Worries plague Delhi power circuit as Amit Shah tests COVID positive
The presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a Cabinet Committee meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by other top ministers last Wednesday (July 29) has become a cause of worry after Shah announced that he has tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday (August 2).
A file picture tweeted by Modi’s official Twitter handle after the Wednesday meeting shows Shah sitting beside the prime minister albeit maintaining a distance.
Although it is not certain whether the picture was taken during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting or not, it, however, conveys that Shah was present in the crucial meeting at the prime minister’s residence where the government passed the new education policy.
Hours after Shah’s disclosure that he has tested positive for the virus, there, however, has been no official word from the government on the possibility about other participants of the last Cabinet meeting of being recommended self-isolation, or a COVID-19 test.
Yet, informed sources say that Shah did attend Wednesday’s meeting while observing requisite safety protocols. These include temperature checks, Arogya Setu check and no use of little ferry-cars for internal movement at prime minister’s residence.
Related news: COVID-19: Amit Shah, Yediyurappa, TN guv test positive
Significantly, Shah has himself said in his tweet, “I urge all those of you who have come in contact with me through last few days to please isolate yourself and get your test done.”
Sources say that Shah was taken to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon and was admitted there a little before 4.30 pm on Sunday. He is being treated by a team of doctors led by Dr Sushila Kataria.
Soon after this, Union Minister of State Babul Supriyo stated that he had met Shah on Saturday and, thus, was going into self-isolation as per the advice of his doctor. A delegation of West Bengal unit of the BJP too had called on Shah on Saturday to demand imposition of President’s rule in the state in the wake of increasing attacks on BJP workers by the rival Trinamool Congress activists.
Shah had also participated in a webinar on Saturday. It was organised from Delhi by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) headed by RSS ideologue Vinay Sahasrabuddhe. The event was meant to mark the 100th death anniversary of famed freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
The home minister has been in the thick of the battle against coronavirus and has come in contact with a wide variety of people in the past few months. This, indeed, made him susceptible to contracting the virus. His close contact with bureaucrats as well as the two ministers of state in his ministry is causing a huge worry in the capital’s power circuit.
Though Shah’s engagements for next few days are going to be cancelled, nothing has so far been said about his presence at the foundation-laying ceremony of Lord Rama’s temple at Ayodhya. It is expected to be held on Wednesday (August 5) and is supposed to be presided over by Modi.
Normally, Amit Shah does not attend the events that are graced by the prime minister. Yet this time the government has hardly said much about the August 5 ceremony at Ayodhya even though the local priests want it to be attended by all government higher ups.
Besides the temple foundation laying function at Ayodhya, a Cabinet reshuffle was expected ahead of Independence Day.
(The writer is an independent journalist based in Delhi. He tweets @abidshahjourno)
