The Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has attacked the Modi government at the Centre, accusing it of making erroneous decisions during the onset of the second wave of the pandemic that led to the deaths of 50 lakh people in the country.

The Congress has been raising storms in the Monsoon Session of the Parliament by throwing questions, one after another, at the central government concerning the handling of the pandemic situation.

Advertisement

The former Congress president, Rahul Gandhi has this time made a direct jibe at the centre, holding it responsible for the 50 lakh lives which were lost to the coronavirus due to the central government’s “wrong decisions”.

Rahul took to Twitter and wrote, “The Truth. Government of India’s wrong decisions during Covid second wave killed 50 lakh of our sisters, brothers, mothers and fathers.” To substantiate his claims, he attached a report of the Washington based think-tank- Centre for Global Development.

According to the report of this think-tank, “nearly 50 lakh (4.9 million) people might have died in India due to Covid-19 between January 2020 and June 2021.”

The statement by Rahul Gandhi is being viewed as a rebuttal to the central government’s recent claim that no one died due to oxygen shortage during the second wave of the pandemic. It may be noted that during the second wave of the coronavirus, the demand for medical oxygen peaked in several hospitals in various states in India. Allegations were made that several deaths occurred due to oxygen shortages.

However, the BJP chose to brush aside Rahul Gandhi’s allegations as the party’s spokesperson Sambit Patra said that all reports on deaths were sent to the Centre by the states which never claimed any deaths due to oxygen shortage. He pointed out that the central government’s remarks, in Parliament, was based on these data.

Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, he said, “You have acted as a Twitter troll throughout the pandemic by writing two-line lies frequently. It is painful that a former president of one of the largest parties has behaved so irresponsibly.”