The second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is nothing short of “a grave calamity and a direct consequence of the Narendra Modi government’s indifference, insensitivity and incompetence,” the Congress Working Committee (CWC) said in a resolution on Monday.
The CWC, that met virtually to discuss the party’s performance in the recent Assembly polls , spent considerable time time discussing in the coronavirus situation. In her opening remarks, party president Sonia Gandhi said the country had paid a ‘horrendous price’ for the Modi government’s neglect and the health system had collapsed.
The CWC expressed concern over the government’s vaccination strategy, insufficient supplies, ‘opaque and discriminatory’ pricing policy and mandatory online registration that would exclude people in rural areas and from poor economic background to walk-in for vaccination. It pointed out that the infection had travelled ‘massively’ into rural areas that had no access to RT PCR testing, medicines, oxygen or hospitalisation and it had resulted in a large number of painful deaths.
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The party charged the Prime Minister with instructing his Health Minister to reply to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s suggestion in a ‘most undignified manner’.
‘Time for unwavering national unity’
The CWC stated that it was time for unwavering national unity. “In order that it may become a reality, the Prime Minister must atone for his mistakes and commit to serving the people instead of carrying on with personal agenda, oblivious to the suffering all around”, it said.
“The CWC expresses its revulsion at the shocking expenditure priorities of the Modi government. At a time when the nation’s resources should be devoted to ensuring expansion of vaccination coverage and supply of essential medicines and oxygen, the Modi government is indulging in criminal waste of money by continuing with the personal vanity project of the Prime Minister in the national capital. This is the height of callousness and insensitivity as also an insult to the people of the country,” it noted.
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The data on COVID-19 deaths was ‘horribly wrong’ and ‘afflicted by massive non-reporting’. “The solution lies in facing the challenge and stopping the casualties from COVID-19 and not in concealing the truth by burying the data on deaths and infections”, it observed.
The CWC accused the government of “wilful” disregard of scientific advice, premature declaration of victory over the pandemic, unwillingness and inability to plan in advance in spite of warnings from public health experts and the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Parliament concerned.
