- Tuesday, April 01, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday lashed out at opponent leader Rahul Gandhi saying he was playing politics over the country’s coronavirus crisis after the latter released a “white paper” on the Centre’s handling of the pandemic. The former Congress president said while releasing the “white paper” prepared by his party that it was clear that the Narendra Modi government’s management of the first and the second waves of the pandemic was “disastrous”.
The BJP’s reaction came soon after. Sambit Patra, one of its national spokespersons, said in a press conference, “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 added, “Yesterday (21) 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 said from the very beginning, the Congress party has questioned every step the BJP government has taken in its fight against the pandemic. He said whenever the government has found itself at crossroads in the fight, Rahul Gandhi and his party have tried to ruin the efforts by playing politics. He said the opposition party has worked tirelessly to create hurdles and obstacles in the government’s path.
Patra said the devastating second wave in India began with a Congress-ruled state and most number of infections and deaths were from those that are under the rule of Gandhi’s party. He also said that the maximum hesitancy over vaccination was found in the Congress-ruled states and hence the highest positivity rates were also there.
“The demand for decentralisation of vaccines came from the Congress-ruled states and then 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,” Patra said.
BJP spokesperson calls Rahul Gandhi confused
He also called Gandhi confused and accused the Congress of 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 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.
Earlier, Gandhi urged while releasing the “white paper” that the government should be prepared for a possible third wave of the coronavirus. He said there were certain reasons why the first and second waves were disastrous and his party tried to point those out in the white paper. He said it was a blueprint about how to react to the third wave and the Congress intended to give the government information and insights about what went wrong and not point fingers at the government.
