Over the last year and half, the word 'covidiot' has become a part of the mainstream discourse, turning up on dictionaries and being applied to people across the world. Now, it is being adopted by politicians as they descend into name-calling.
Union Minister and BJP leader V Muraleedharan on Thursday dubbed Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan a covidiot, contending that he had cast his vote two days after testing positive for COVID-19.
"Covidiot. You know what it means. There's no other word that can be used for a CM who continuously violates COVID-19 protocol. As per doctors of Calicut Medical College, the Kerala Chief Minister tested positive on April 4. And on April 6, he voted without following protocols," the lawmaker alleged.
Going by reports, Vijayan had revealed his COVID-19 positive status two days after casting his vote in the Assembly polls. His last media interaction had been on April 6 after casting the ballot. His daughter incidentally had tested positive on the same day, appearing in the polling booth encased in a PPE kit. According to a Mathrubhumi report, that appears to support the MoS, the Kozhikode Medical College principal had contended that the CM had tested positive on April 4. Vijayan has since been discharged after testing negative.
In other related news, Kerala Agriculture Minister VS Sunil Kumar on Thursday tested COVID-19 positive for the second time. He has been admitted to Thrissur Medical College but there are currently no health issues. His son Niranjan Krishna had also tested positive. The Minister had earlier contracted COVID-19 on September 23 last year and subsequently recovered from it.
