Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday took a sharp swipe at the Narendra Modi-led central government alleging that the Prime Minister, with his poor vaccine strategy, was responsible for the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.
The former Congress President also said that the Covid-19 death rate put out by the central government was inaccurate and underreported and if the Centre did not act immediately it will be left grappling with several successive waves of the pandemic, as the virus goes on mutating.
"The Prime Minister's 'nautanki' is the reason behind the second wave of COVID19 in India. He did not understand COVID19. India's death rate is a lie. The government should tell the truth," Rahul Gandhi said at a virtual press conference.
The Central government, Gandhi said he did not "understand the nature of what they're fighting".
"The government is not understanding the nature of what they're fighting. Understand the dangers of mutation of this virus. You are creating a liability for the whole planet. Why? Because you are allowing 97 per cent of the population to be attacked by the virus as only 3 per cent are vaccinated," he said.
Gandhi said that despite warnings by him along with many other people 'warned' the Government of India about COVID-19 repeatedly, but the government only made fun of them and did not heed their warnings.
"We had warned the Government of India about COVID19 repeatedly. Later, PM Modi had expressed India's victory against COVID19. The problem is that the government and Prime Minister have not understood Corona to date. Corona is not just a disease but a changing disease. This is an evolving disease. The more time you give it, the more dangerous it will become," he said.
The Wayanad MP asserted that vaccination were the only "permanent solution".
"There are three or four ways to stop it, but there is only one permanent solution is the vaccine. Lockdown is an option, but it causes problems for people and is a temporary solution. Masks, social distancing are also temporary solutions. Yet if we don't vaccinate people, the fact is that the virus will be immune to the vaccine," he said.
Gandhi said he spoke to Prime Minister directly on the importance of implementing the right vaccine strategy. "If you do not implement the right vaccine strategy, then people will die as there will be multiple waves because the virus will keep adapting," he said.
When asked whether deaths in Congress-ruled states were also wrongly reported, Gandhi said, "Spoke to Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States, told them that lying will only harm them, reality needs to be accepted. Actual death numbers might be disturbing but we must stick to telling truth."
( With inputs from ANI )
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