Mrs. Gandhi said that instead of providing strong leadership and management of the pandemic, the Centre was busy fighting assembly elections.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi heavily criticized the Central Government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and termed it as a “complete disaster, bordering on utter negligence and leaving the people to fend for themselves”
In an interview she gave to The Indian Express, Mrs. Gandhi said that instead of providing strong leadership and management of the pandemic, the Centre was busy fighting assembly elections. She also added that this was just one part of it, the other being the “abdication of governance”
“No new facilities were created. The capacity for beds was not increased. The medical sector was not supported financially in any way. The adequate provision of medicines was not done. The necessary economic support to the migrant labor and the disadvantaged by way of Rs 6,000-income support was not provided. They have now proceeded to turn India into an importer of vaccines and oxygen when we were in effect producing more than enough to cover our needs. They exported 1.1 million vials of Remdesivir without ensuring adequate provisions for fellow Indians.” said the Congress President.
On being asked the lessons that her party has learned in states where it’s in power, Sonia Gandhi said “Both Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have surplus oxygen supply. In fact, they have already been assisting other states with it. Punjab and Rajasthan have done a fairly good job as far as vaccinations are concerned. Those states that planned in advance and laid out a clear management strategy have done better. Even Maharashtra, despite the onslaught of the pandemic, has left no stone unturned and the results have just started showing in flattening of the curve of surging infections. Overall, the attitude of governance has to be transparent, accountable, facilitative, cooperative, and supportive in crisis rather than opaque, aggressive and heartless.”
Also Read: “No Point In Debating Death Numbers”: ML Khattar On Data Fudging Charge
Amidst a big election season, political parties including Congress set wrong examples and conducted rallies/roadshows, breaking all COVID-19 protocols. Admitting that it did send out a wrong signal, Mrs. Gandhi said she questioned herself on the “correctness of an elaborate political campaign in the middle of the pandemic” but quickly added that there was pressure to continue simply because the campaign could not stop unilaterally.
No other country in the world has such an insensitive and discriminatory vaccine policy.
-congress president Sonia Gandhi
“Tragically, we have a situation where we have one nation and five vaccine prices from two vaccine manufacturers. How can the Modi government remain a mute spectator to this brazen profiteering and discriminatory pricing of the vaccine? It gives strength to the argument that the government is complicit in vaccine profiteering at the cost of people in the middle of the pandemic.” she said.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
