With its politicking Centre is undermining states during Covid-19 pandemic

The BJP attacks Opposition for making suggestions for controlling coronavirus and for reviving economic growth but its govt's actions show it is not beyond petty politicking during a national crisis

It may be legal for the central government to override state leaderships in supervising measures to control the Covid-19 pandemic under Section 35 of the Disaster Management Act of 2005. But there was little justification for not informing the Chief Minister of West Bengal about sending two Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) till three hours after they had arrived.
 

Statements by the Governor of West Bengal paint Mamata Banerjee as incompetent and anti-people for not cooperating with the central teams. But his accusations cannot disguise the deeply partisanal politics being played by the central government against the background of the pandemic.