Hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi released a ‘white paper’ on the Union government’s handling of COVID-19 crisis and termed it disastrous, the BJP accused him of playing politics over the pandemic and of the Congress-ruled States managing the pandemic badly.
BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra addressed a press conference at the party’s headquarters in New Delhi to launch an attack on the Congress. “Since yesterday we have been fearing this. Whenever something good happens in our fight against coronavirus, the Congress and Rahul Gandhi specially do something to derail it,” he said.
“Yesterday was a significant day when India became the first country in the world to administer 87 lakh vaccine doses in one day. People seemed excited and jubilant. There is a feeling that India is winning in its fight against coronavirus, just then Rahul Gandhi spoke of white paper and tried to derail it,” he stated.
“Whenever we are at a crossroads in our fight, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party have tried to derail the efforts by playing politics. In fact, the Congress has really worked tirelessly to create hurdles and obstacles in our path,” he alleged.
Vaccine hesitancy
Mr. Patra accused the Congress-led States of mishandling the pandemic, even saying that the second wave began with a Congress-ruled State. The most number of those infected were from the Congress-ruled States and so were the most number of deaths. The maximum vaccine hesitancy was seen in the Congress-ruled States and so was the highest COVID-19 positivity rate, he observed.
“The demand for decentralisation of vaccines came from the Congress-ruled States and the U-turn demanding centralisation too came from them. Instead of virtual press conferences and white papers, Rahul Gandhi should go to such States and give them this data,” he said.
Mr. Patra called Mr. Gandhi “confused” and charged the Congress with making contradictory demands.
“First they called the lockdown ‘Tughlaki’, then they questioned why there was no lockdown.... They promoted vaccine hesitancy... I would like to ask Rahul Gandhi how long will he conduct just virtual press conferences? When will you do some real work? Go to the States ruled by your party and see the situation there. How vaccines are being wasted in Rajasthan, how vaccine profiteering is happening in Punjab and how Chhattisgarh is misusing vaccines. Go to the ground and survey,” he added.
