Amid the BJP, Congress tussle over Covid rules in Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday launched an attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said PM Modi's mask is only for the television. "I wore a mask longer than the prime minister wore it yesterday. His mask is only for TV," Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference. Read: 'Rahul Gandhi can continue with Bharat Jodo Yatra but...', says union minister
The entire drama is orchestrated to put up a roadblock before Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra enters Delhi, the Congress leaders said. "I have been wearing a mask today since the morning. I wore it because I have a mask. We did not have 250-300 masks with us. From tomorrow, everybody will wear the mask," Jairam Ramesh said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a high-level meeting on Thursday to review the Covid-19 situation in the country, given a sudden surge of cases in China. PM Modi and many other parliamentarians were seen wearing the mask on Thursday.
"Any protocol based on scientific and medical advice that is uniformly implemented will be followed by the Congress party. We have always followed it. We were not the party which gave the solution that the Covid situation (after its outbreak in 2020) will be won in 18 days, like the Mahabharata war," Jairam Ramesh said.
"There was one gentleman who said that we will win the Covid war in 18 days, and there was one gentleman who advised Indians to deal with the pandemic by going to their balconies and bang 'thalis'. These were the remedies given for Covid, if you recall," the Congress leaders said.
{{/usCountry}}"There was one gentleman who said that we will win the Covid war in 18 days, and there was one gentleman who advised Indians to deal with the pandemic by going to their balconies and bang 'thalis'. These were the remedies given for Covid, if you recall," the Congress leaders said.
{{/usCountry}}Union health minister Masukh Mandaviya recently wrote to Rahul Gandhi to consider stalling the yatra given the fresh Covid concerns triggered by the China surge.
The BJP on Friday targeted Rahul Gandhi asking whether he was in isolation after Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu tested positive for Covid. Rahul Gandhi was in close proximity to him and attended his swearing-in ceremony.