TTT New Delhi: The callousness of Narendra Modi in handling India’s COVID surge has now snatched away his crown of the effective workaholic Prime Minister of India who, as he continually claimed , stood for betterment and development of the country.
Now, in silence, he is unable to answer the simple questions of why he failed to augment the supply of medical oxygen in hospitals including military facilities, allowing unmasked people to take part in recent election rallies and not deferring the religious congregation of millions of naked saints for a holy dip at a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
“This once in 12 years regular feature was preponed by one year – as the last time it was held was in 2010, pointed out Niranjan Pandey, adding that the reasoning behind the decision was a mystery.
The most baffling thing is the delay in the distribution of the international COVID medical aid comprising medial oxygen cylinders and concentrators, Remdesivir injections, and N-95 masks that have been lying at Delhi airport’s cargo section for the last three days.
Modi has now been crowned with the tag of a failed Prime Minister by Indians and many of them gunning for his resignation for mishandling the present crisis.
The people are thus wondering why he failed to stop the export of vaccines and medicines to foreign soil; his failure to timely procure a supply of medical oxygen; his failure to speedily take action on States failing to set up more COVID treatment facilities; failing to halt the construction of a new PM’s residence and turning a blind eye to black-market COVID medicines and injections- the list goes on.
Failure disrupts life causing emotional anguish and distress. This was unfortunately seen by almost a billion adult Indians during the last month when the second wave of COVID ripped the already weak health structure, causing a quarter of a million deaths followed by an angry verbal retaliation against Modi who was uninstalled from the lofty image that he had built in the minds of the majority of people.
Unable to gauge the magnitude of the devastation that COVID would bring about, Modi and his ‘coterie of woefully brainless henchmen’ kept strategizing ways of becoming more powerful in the five States that were slated for hustings.
As expected, Modi’s party, the BJP, failed to win in three States.
And to woo the Hindu community, the religious congregation wanting a holy dip at the city of Haridwar in the COVID infected State of Uttar Pradesh were permitted.
The self-styled dictatorial robes that Modi and his administrative partner Amit Shah (India’s Home Minister) donned while taking refuge in silence and being fully aware that a short supply of medical oxygen was the main cause of COVID infections was not only disgusting, but a display of insensitivity of the country’s most powerful man towards its people.
The Indian judiciary rebuked the authorities for not supplying adequate oxygen and threatened to initiate action against the erring officials.
Both Modi and Amit Shah conveyed that efforts were on to augment ‘the oxygen supply on a war footing evolving and implementing innovative measures’. The measures as stated were not made public, however, insinuating that Modi was not in a position to admit his failure.
The journey of millions of rupees through the Prime Minister Care fund (set up last year for containing and preparing for combatting the pandemic) was not disclosed even after a public petition filed in the courts on the plea that the government cannot reveal such information.
Modi has thus drawn flak from all corners of the country for his failure to admit the collapse of the health system and his inability to handle the country administratively amidst the COVID surge crisis.
The foreign media has also been vociferously alleging that the COVID surge could have been contained if Prime Minister Modi had taken stringent steps and concentrated on the issue rather than planning electoral strategies in the Indian states.
The Indian print media too has continually berated Modi for his insensitive attitude towards the COVID catastrophe.
Social media has attracted brickbats for Modi and his team, and rightly so, many bloggers allege.
A report in the Indian media even pointed out that as many as 136,000 Remdesivir injections, 3200 oxygen cylinders and over 5000 oxygen concentrators have been stacked and are awaiting a nod from the Indian health ministry before flight-lifting them to different states anxiously waiting for the ‘succour’.
Dr. Nutan Mundeja, Director-General of Health Services, Delhi, was quoted in a news portal ‘Scroll.in’ saying ‘we have not received anything so far’.
No Indian State head has claimed they were aware of any relief medical supplies allocated to them although supplies from Ireland, France and Uzbekistan clearly had marked the name of the States to which their supplies were meant to be delivered.
An India Red Cross spokesman R.K. Jain said that its duty was confined to getting consignments cleared through customs and it was the Indian Health Ministry that was responsible for the distribution of the international relief packages.
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