Just a few months ahead of Bengal elections, state BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh on Friday said that the lockdown imposed by the state government is an attempt to block BJP rallies.

He also claims that the pandemic is over and CM Mamata Banerjee was only "pretending" the virus is around.

"Corona is gone. Didimoni (Mamata Banerjee) is just pretending and imposing lockdowns so that the BJP can't organise meetings and rallies in the state. No one can stop us," he said at a rally in Dhaniakhali.

The BJP had, earlier this year, relentlessly attacked the state's ruling TMC party over Bengal's worsening virus crisis, saying it had deliberately underreported cases and deaths.

National BJP chief JP Nadda called the ruling TMC party as 'anti-Hindu' for ordering a lockdown during the groundbreaking ceremony for a Ram temple in Ayodhya.

"This shows the state's policies are driven by an anti-Hindu mind-set and appeasement politics. The public should be told about this, our vote percentage is continuously increasing and in the next election we have to overthrow the Trinamool Congress government," said Nadda.

India has crossed 45 lakh coronavirus cases with 96,551 new infections and 1,209 deaths in 24 hours, a record so far. Bengal has close to 2 lakh infections and over 3,700 deaths.