From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Dec 24: Known for its flip-flops on its various decisions in the recent past, the B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government has withdrawn its order on imposing night curfew from 11 pm tonight till 5 am and for the next eight days in the nights from 11 pm to 5 am up to January 2, 2021 morning hours before the stringent curfew conditions were to come in force.
Chief minister B S Yediyurappa has announced in a sudden media release that the government order on imposing night curfew from 11 pm tonight and for the next eight days in the nights from 11 pm to 5 am till January 2 morning 5 am said the government order has been withdrawn forthwith.
It may be recalled that the chief minister had announced imposition of the stringent night curfew from December 23 night from 10 pm till 6 am and up to January 2, 2021 in the morning.
But by evening, the chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar had issued the official government order announcing that the night curfew would be imposed from December 24 night from 11 pm till 5 am and every night up to 5 am January 2citing the detection of new variant of new mutation strain of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV 2 Virus)in UK.
The chief minister had also tweeted the government’s decision on the changes with regard to imposition of the night curfew.
In a statement, chief minister B S Yediyurappa on Thursday said that the decision to withdraw night curfew was taken following public opinion that it was not required.
The chief minister appealed to the people to follow COVID-19 related rules and protocols strictly to contain the spread of the virus.
The BJP legislators including Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and H Vishwanth, have expressed their reservations on the necessity of the night curfew from 11 pm.
KPCC president D K Shivakumar too termed 'illogical' the night curfew imposed by the government and demanded its withdrawal.
The BJP government’s decision on imposing night curfew only in the night had come in for widespread criticism in the social media and also from the opposition parties. In addition, owners of bars, restaurants and pubs as well as taxi and autorickshaw drivers had also taken strong exception to the decision on imposing night curfew, especially on the eve of Christmas celebrations and also to thwart all New Year celebrations.
In fact, the government order issued by the chief secretary had made a specific mention that Christians were free to have their Christmas midnight mass subject to observing the social distancing, wearing of masks and disinfection norms.
Though the leaders of the Catholic and Christian churches and the leaders of the community had not publicly opposed the decision, the Yediyurappa government’s decision for imposing night curfew to block Christmas and New Year celebrations had come in for strong criticism.
There were strident criticism and even ridicule as to whether the coronavirus is active only in the nights and not during the daytime. Why is the BJP government is so much concerned about the welfare and safety of only the minority Christians or the Muslims as there were similar restrictions before and during the Eid celebrations recently, some of the critics had asked pointing out why similar restrictions were not imposed during the major festivals of the majority Hindu community like Ganesha Chaturthi, Deepavali, Dasara or even during the elections.
In the recent past, the Yediyurappa government had made U-turn in several decisions pertaining to the handling of the corona pandemic.