The Gujarat Congress on Monday alleged that the 'Namaste Trump' program organized by the BJP government on 24 February was responsible for more than 800 deaths due to corona virus in the state, on which the ruling BJP took a strong step. State Congress President Amit Chavda said that his party would soon file a petition in the Gujarat High Court seeking a probe by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) to search information related to the mega event. The state BJP, however, dismissed the allegation, claiming that the opposition party was trying to find answers to media reports that revealed "how the corona virus spread after the Tabligi Jamaat's Delhi Markaz program".
On 24 February, US President Donald Trump attended a road show in Ahmedabad with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which was attended by thousands of people. After the road show, the two leaders addressed a crowd of over one lakh people at the Motera Cricket Stadium, the event was named 'Namaste Trump'. The first case of corona virus in Gujarat was reported on 20 March, at the same time, till May 25, 888 people have died due to infection in the state while the number of infected people is 14,468.
Chawda alleged, "The World Health Organization had issued a warning about the corona virus in January itself, despite the state's BJP government organized the Namaste Trump program, which resulted in more than 800 people becoming victims of the epidemic here." He claimed that the state health department had also issued a notification on 22 January regarding the epidemic and asked its district offices to take precautionary measures to fight the corona virus.
The Congress alleged why the government did not take other precautionary measures, including buying PPE kits and ventilators, this is criminal negligence. The BJP, while denouncing the allegations as baseless, advised the opposition not to do politics in this difficult time. Gujarat BJP spokesperson Bharat Pandya said that people of Gujarat know that there is no synergy between the spread of 'Namaste Trump' and Corona virus, whereas giving statistics, he had told how the Corona virus spread after the Tabligi Jamaat program held in Delhi.
