Kolkata, Sep 11 (IANS): Two days after Dilip Ghosh said "Corona is over", the Mamata Banerjee-led ruling Trinamool Congress on Friday came down heavily on the West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party president for his "horrifying" statement amid rising cases of the pandemic as India put up an unprecedented number of fresh cases and deaths in the past 24 hours.

"While the whole of India is still fighting tirelessly against the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, Dilip Ghosh announces Corona is Over. Evidently, he values vote bank politics much above human lives," All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) official handle tweeted.

India on Friday recorded an unprecedented rise in single-day spike both in number of fresh cases and deaths in 24 hours. There were 96,551 new infections reported that took the total tally to 45,62,414, the Union Health Ministry data revealed. There were 1,209 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, which is also the highest fatality in a single day, with the toll reaching 76,271 so far.

Ghosh on Wednesday said that Corona pandemic is over and the Mamata Banerjee-led government was unnecessarily imposing lockdown to stop the saffron brigade from holding public rallies.

He said it at a public rally at Dhaniakhali area in Hooghly district. The video clip went viral on social media platforms.

"Corona is Gone! Didi is acting. She is intentionally imposing lockdown so that BJP cannot hold meetings and rallies in Bengal," Ghosh had said.

Addressing the crowd, Ghosh said that chief minister's brothers are feeling unwell seeing the supporters of Bengal BJP. "They are feeling unwell not due to fear of coronavirus but due to the fear of BJP," he said.

India is now the second worst hit country by the pandemic, registering nearly one lakh cases daily.