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Meeting with PM casual, ‘sat like puppets’ and were not allowed to speak: Mamata
Only four to five district magistrates, mostly from BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]-ruled states, were allowed to speak. The meeting ended with Prime Minister’s speech in which he claimed that Covid-19 cases were going down, she said
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday described Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with chief ministers and district magistrates of 10 states as “casual and super flop” and said they “sat like puppets” and “none was allowed to say a single word”.
“We felt insulted. Only four to five district magistrates, mostly from BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party]-ruled states, were allowed to speak. The meeting ended with Prime Minister’s speech in which he claimed that Covid-19 cases were going down,” said Banerjee. She claimed there was no discussion on the supply of vaccines, medicines, and oxygen or the black fungus, which has emerged as one of the major Covid-19 complications.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari hit out at Banerjee over her comments and said she has once again shown “her total disinterest” in administration while pointing out the meeting was convened to discuss grassroots level practices to fight the pandemic. “True to her style, she has politicised a meeting Hon’ble PM @narendramodi held with District Officials, where grassroots level practices to fight Covid-19 were being discussed,” tweeted Adhikari, who is also the leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly. He added five of the seven district officials, who spoke at the meeting belonged to non-BJP ruled states--Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Andhra Pradesh.
In his address, Modi said India’s battle against Covid-19 requires continuous change and up-gradation of plans and innovations while cautioning it will not be over if the virus remains even in a small area of the country. He said there is more concern now about young people and children.
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Modi said the vaccine supplies would be strengthened and emphasised the need to save the villages as he sought more ideas and new practices to tackle the pandemic. He described the virus as “dhurt bahurupiya”, while referring to its mutations. “Every phase of the pandemic has taught us that constant change, up-gradation, and constant innovation is key to fight the pandemic. This virus is famous for changing itself through mutations. It is like a bahurupia and it is clever as well. So, our strategies and plans should also be dynamic,” he said.
Modi commended the Union health ministry’s plan of providing vaccine stocks that will last 15 days and called for a need for a vaccination calendar. He added more transparency in the supply of vaccines will make the inoculation campaign easier.
In his earlier meeting with district administrators on Tuesday, Modi called them the “field commanders” in the fight against the pandemic and spoke about their determination when they cleared the civil services exams. “You solved problems with your own abilities. Today, you are facing the toughest test and now, you are using your abilities to solve even the smallest problems of your district.”
Modi said sensitivity and patience were essential in this battle. He called earning people’s trust the key to success. Modi said the field experience was more valuable than intellectual debate. As infections have been spreading in smaller cities and rural areas, Modi urged the district administrators to reach out to the people and convince them to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour to curb the spread. “Your presence, your speeches can remove fear among people.”
Modi urged the magistrates to find unique solutions to their local problems and to do a separate analysis of the spread of the virus in tier two and three cities. He expressed confidence that a solution to check the virus from spreading in the rural areas can be found. “My experience says that if you convey the right things at the right time, people will follow religiously.”
Also Read | Sonia Gandhi writes to PM, seeks free education for kids orphaned by Covid
After the meeting, Banerjee in Kolkata referred to black fungus and said it emerged from Surat in Gujarat and that Rajasthan has already declared it as an epidemic. She added four cases of the disease have been detected in West Bengal and blamed the Centre for failing to supply medicines to treat it. Banerjee said the Centre was not providing vaccines to her state and as a result, vaccination has slowed down in West Bengal.
Banerjee separately wrote to Modi demanding more vaccines. “Earlier we had demanded three crore [30 million] vaccines. Now we are demanding 8.6 crore [over 86 million] doses so that we can vaccinate all citizens. If we get the vaccines, we can vaccinate every citizen within three months. But if we adopt his [Modi] formula it may take 10 years to vaccinate all,” she said.
Banerjee expressed doubts over the gap prescribed between two doses of Covid-19 vaccines. She questioned whether the gap was being increased to cover up for the scarcity of vaccines. “We are running a state. But Delhi’s shahenshah [emperor] is not even looking at us and just saying sab thik hai [everything is fine]. When representatives of Uttar Pradesh spoke at the meeting, the Prime Minister said ‘bahut badiya chal raha hai [it is going very well]’, without questioning why corpses were being dumped into the river,” she said.
Banerjee was referring to corpses fished out the Ganga in Bihar’s Buxar district and Ghazipur in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. The recovery of the bodies triggered probes in both states and speculation that they belonged to Covid patients. More dead bodies were later found in Uttar Pradesh’s Unnao.
Banerjee also lashed out at the BJP-led Central government over the arrest of her two cabinet ministers, including Firhad Hakim who was heading the Covid-19 task force, and one legislator. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested them on charges of bribery on Monday in connection with the 2016 Narada sting operation. They are now in judicial custody.
“I am not commenting on the case as it is sub-judice. Kolkata’s [outgoing] mayor [Hakim] used to work in the field round the clock. Now we have to do the job in another way. They [BJP-led Centre] can do vendetta politics [even] during the time of Covid-19,” said Banerjee.
Banerjee returned to power in the state this month after one of the most keenly contested elections in which Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah led the BJP from the front. Her Trinamool Congress (TMC) has linked the arrested in the Narda case to BJP’s political vendetta driven by its loss of the assembly polls.
The CBI on Wednesday named Banerjee, law minister Moloy Ghatak, and lawmaker Kalyan Banerjee as respondents in its plea to transfer the Narada case out of the state. It claimed violent protests orchestrated by the TMC against the arrests have hampered its probe and intimidated lower courts.
