Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and former MP from Azamgarh, Ramakant Yadav has been booked by the UP Police for calling the coronavirus outbreak in India a “tactic” devised by the Centre to “divert attention” from the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.

The police in Azamgarh have booked him under Section 3 of the Epidemic Act, along with Section 505 (inciting people to commit any offence), Section 188 (disobedience of order promulgated by public servant) and Section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease which is dangerous to life) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

While speaking in Azamgarh on Friday, Ramakant Yadav said the coronavirus outbreak in India has “been manufactured by the Centre to divert people’s attention” from issues like CAA, NRC and inflation.

In the video, which has gone viral on social media, the ill-informed SP leader is heard asking to name a single person in India who has died because of Coronavirus. Calling it BJP’s tactics the MP from Azamgarh said that he is willing to hug people infected with coronavirus to prove that it isn’t contagious.

Former MP and Samajwadi Party leader Ramakant Yadav is instigating people to hug Corona infected people. He has repeated this statement while talking to many news channels. He should be immediately put under house arrest.pic.twitter.com/JBPTzAJe2H — Divya Kumar Soti (@DivyaSoti) March 21, 2020

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The FIR against him was registered following orders from DIG Azamgarh Subhash Dubey after taking cognisance of his video which went viral on social media.

It is appalling that even when Novel coronavirus cases in India has risen to over 250 today and we stand at the brink of entering stage-3 (community transmission) of Wuhan Coronavirus, opposition leaders are not refraining themselves from playing politics over the issue.

But what can be expected from the minister who’s party supremo has only made such outrageous remarks in the past. The Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had recently gone on to equate BJP to coronavirus. In a statement, the SP bigwig had called “BJP a bigger virus than corona”.

Moreover, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had also accused the central government of ‘creating coronavirus panic’ to ‘divert attention’ from Delhi anti-Hindu riots. She even alleged that BJP killed those who died in the communal violence in the national capital. The TMC chief alleged that the BJP government at the Centre is trying to cover up the riots with coronavirus.