Mamata Banerjee Declares All Journalists As COVID-19 Warriors

Mamata Banerjee on Journalists: West Bengal Chief Minister Banerjee declared all journalists COVID-19 warriors. On May 2, Banerjee’s party the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) won the general elections in West Bengal.

The day after Mamata Banerjee's victory in the general elections, she made the declaration that all journalists are COVID-19 warriors. Journalists have also been declared as frontline workers and COVID-19 warriors by Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, and Uttarakhand CM Tirath Singh Rawat.

Declaring journalists COVID-19 warriors and frontline workers means that in those states, journalists will get priority in the COVID-19 vaccination program. According to BBC India Correspondent Soutik Biswas, 45 journalists in India lost their lives in the time span of one week. The Press Emblem Campaign recorded that more than 125 journalists have passed due to COVID-19 in India, while at least 861 journalists have died in 68 countries. On average, 3 journalists die due to COVID-19 in India in a day.

Mamata Banerjee on Journalists

After the victory, Mamata Banerjee said that COVID-19 is the battle that needs to be focused on. After thanking the party workers, she appealed to the public to “Go home and take a shower, sanitise well and maintain social distance from others. Please do not crown around and indulge in celebrations. Banerjee also said that due to the rise in COVID-19, the swearing-in would be a low-key event.

Banerjee spoke about the pandemic and said that “We have to work immediately on COVID-19 management.” She requested that her party workers not celebrate during the pandemic. “Let’s stand with people. Let’s try and save lives,” said Banerjee to her party workers.

Regarding the COVID-19 vaccine, Banerjee demanded that the central government provide everyone with few vaccines. Banerjee added that if the government did not provide free vaccines for the people, she would protest.