'Was mocked': Rahul Gandhi on warning PM Modi about Covid-19 crisis in 2020
The former Congress chief has maintained that he warned Centre against Covid-19 but “they kept rubbishing it”. Gandhi said, as a result, “disaster followed”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that he was mocked when he warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year of the possible consequences of coronavirus crisis and was accused of scaring people.
Gandhi, who has been canvassing poll-bound states in the ongoing Assembly elections, was addressing a rally in West Bengal's Darjeeling.
"Last year in February, all Congress leaders and I collectively said to PM that India is going to be affected by Covid-19. You should start preparing to save economy, migrant labourers and small-scale industry," Gandhi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
He added that he was mocked and was seen as a "fear-mongerer".
"Narendra Modi said beat thaali, corona will go. He said bang bells and thaalis. After that, he asked people to take out their mobile phones and switch on flashlights," Gandhi charged at PM Modi.
Also read | ‘A tsunami is coming’: Rahul Gandhi warns Centre over coronavirus, economy
Gandhi said that rather than helping labourers, PM Modi asked them to ring bells.
The former Congress chief has maintained that he warned Centre against Covid-19 but “they kept rubbishing it”. Gandhi said, as a result, “disaster followed”. When India had reported 126 infections in total in March last year, Gandhi had said that India should be preparing itself not just for the novel coronavirus but for the economic devastation, which he said is coming as he compared it to a tsunami.
“The Indian economy is going to be devastated. You have no idea the painful thing the country has suffered and it is coming. It is like a tsunami is coming,” Rahul Gandhi had said while speaking to reporters.
The Congress leader also termed BJP's claims to build "Sonar Bangla" (golden Bengal) as a "mirage" and said the saffron party has nothing to offer except for hatred, violence and dividing people on the basis of language, religion, caste and creed.
Gandhi's remarks come in the wake of coronavirus crisis in India which has torpedoed the economy, forced governments to curb public movement by bringing in curfews and brought the daily life to a grinding halt across the country.
Also read | ‘Disaster followed’: Rahul Gandhi says he kept warning Centre on Covid-19, economy
India on Wednesday broke all its previous grim records of coronavirus cases and recorded close to 2 lakh fresh infections. The country hit a record daily high with 1,84,372 infections pushing the total tally of cases to 1,38,73,825, while the active cases surpassed the 13-lakh mark, according to the Union Health Ministry data.
The death toll increased to 1,72,085 with 1,027 new fatalities, the highest since October 18, 2020 the data updated at 8 am showed.
Earlier in the day, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi cited a quote of Mahatma Gandhi suggesting that PM Modi-led government's move to fast-track emergency approval for foreign-produced anti-coronavirus vaccines had been prompted by his party's suggestions.
Rahul Gandhi had written to PM Modi on Friday, urging the government to fast-track approval for vaccines. BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had then accused Gandhi of lobbying for pharma companies by asking for arbitrary approval for foreign vaccines.
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