Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on May 7 penned down a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi slamming his government for failing to strategise during Covid crisis.
Stating that a national lockdown had become “almost inevitable as the COVID tsunami continues to ravage the country unabated”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on May 7 penned down a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi slamming his government for failing to strategise during Covid crisis.
Mr. Gandhi, assuring his party’s support, said various stakeholders must be taken into confidence so that “all can work together to safeguard India” since otherwise it could become a fertile ground for the virus to mutate and transform into a more contagious and dangerous form.
He also asked the Prime Minister to do all he could to stop the virus and urged the government to rapidly vaccinate the entire population as the virus was on the verge of “overwhelming all our systems”.
The Congress leader said that the government’s “lack of a coherent COVID strategy, clear vaccination policy, hubris in prematurely declaring victory allowed the virus to grow exponentially and made India a dangerous place where the disease is growing explosively”.
“I am aware that you are concerned about the economic impact of a lockdown. Inside and outside India, the human cost of allowing this virus to continue its march unimpeded will result in many more tragic consequences for our people than any purely economic calculations your advisors are suggesting,” the former Congress President said in his letter.
To avoid a repeat of last year’s migrant crisis, when lakhs of migrant workers were forced to travel on foot, Mr Gandhi said that the government should ensure a proper transportation policy and offer financial and food support to the vulnerable sections.
The Gandhi scion, explaining why it was important to have a clear strategy, said the situation in India affected the entire world as it was home to one out of every six humans on the planet.
“The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form.
The double and triple mutant strains that we are currently grappling with are only the beginning, I fear. Allowing the uncontrollable spread of this virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world,” he said.
Mr Gandhi suggested that it was absolutely critical to track the virus and its mutations using genome sequencing as well as its disease patterns, assess the efficacy of all vaccines against all new mutations and keep the rest of the world informed and be transparent about the findings.
“Your government’s lack of a clear and coherent COVID and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position: today the disease is growing explosively. It is currently on the verge of overwhelming all of our systems. GOI’s failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable,” he said.
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