BJP MP’s son’s wedding had more than 1000 guests, alleges Congress; seeks action for flouting norms

Two days after the Indore district administration capped the number of guests in marriage gatherings to 250, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Member of Parliament from Jhabua, Guman Singh Damor allegedly flouted Covid-19 norms by inviting more than 1,000 guests for a marriage reception of his son in Indore on Wednesday night, a Congress leader has alleged.

According to the health department’s daily Covid-19 bulletin, Indore is one of the worst affected districts, where the positivity rate of Covid-19 cases is more than 11%, the highest for any district in Madhya Pradesh. Indore has more than 3,644 active cases and only 10% beds are available in private hospitals, according to a district health officer.

“A large number of politicians and high profile people attended the marriage reception of MP Guman Singh Damor’s son but no one objected to the violation of guidelines. Hardly any person wore a mask and maintained social distancing in the function. They flouted the night curfew norm too as the function ended late on Wednesday night,” said Rakesh Yadav, a general secretary of MP Congress Committee, who lodged a complaint with the district administration with pictures of the crowd present at the wedding venue and tagged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet.

Yadav also circulated the pictures and videos of the reception on social media on Thursday morning in which hardly any guest seemed to wear a mask. HT could not verify the authenticity of the pictures and videos that went viral on social media.

Health activists have also demanded action against Damor.

“Even after 12 hours, no action was initiated by the district administration against Damor. The district administration should taken tough action against Damor to set an example for common people,” said Amulya Nidhi, a health activist.

Member of Parliament from Indore and a member of the disaster management committee of Indore, Shankar Lalwani said, “When I reached the venue, there were less than 200 people. The venue had a huge space and people maintained social distancing. Congress leaders are unnecessarily making an issue.”

MP Guman Singh Damor also refuted the allegations and said, “I invited only 250 people. The photos, which are being circulated in social media, don’t belong to the reception of my son.”

Despite repeated attempts, Indore district collector Manish Singh and divisional commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma couldn’t be contacted.