Country in tears, what is there to laugh about, Priyanka asks Modi

PM has failed to provide a sense of safety, direction or leadership, she says

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday slammed the Narendra Modi government over the ‘mismanagment’ of the second wave of the pandemic and said the Prime Minister ‘failed’ to provide leadership at a crucial time.

In an interview with IANS, Ms. Vadra said “the lack of planning and preparation between the first and the second wave is the worst act of negligence and incompetent governance”.

“The Prime Minister has completely failed to provide a sense of safety, direction or leadership during this massive human crisis we are facing. It is shocking that just day before yesterday [Sunday], he was on a public stage addressing thousands of people with no COVID protocol and laughing while doing so. What is there to laugh about? The entire country is in tears,” she said.

“There are no hospital beds available, medicines are running short, crematoriums are full, frontline workers are exhausted...Where is the leadership? Where is the planning? Why are we short of facilities? Where is the money from the PM fund being used? Why has he done nothing to address the five major shortages of vaccines, beds, ventilators, oxygen and Remdesivir? Will he take responsibility for the bad planning and incompetence of his government?” she asked.

She said at a time when the government should be focussing on fighting the catastrophic situation, the Prime Minister continues to address election rallies.

“Even constructive suggestions from the Opposition parties are being dismissed as politicisation rather than being accepted in the spirit that the nation is in a grave crisis and every single life matters. Therefore, all of us must stand together and do whatever we can to save lives,” Ms. Vadra said.

In a separate tweet, she said the government failed the country to provide oxygen despite being its largest producer.

“India produces 7500 MT of O2 per day. We are one of the biggest producers in the world. O2 shortage is due to lack of logistics to transport it. Govt. has failed us. Why did it not make arrangements when a second wave was inevitable? There was time. It’s still not too late,” she tweeted tagging Mr. Modi and asked him to use every resource to save people from dying as every life matters.