The hashtag #ResignModi trended on Monday with tweets roasting the Prime Minister over the Covid resurgence, while the Right-wing ecosystem remained surprisingly subdued in what appeared a tacit acknowledgment of the scale of the crisis and the difficulty of defending the government’s role.
By evening, the hashtag had notched more than 2.38 lakh tweets that bombarded cyberspace with cartoons and graphics showing Narendra Modi fiddling like Roman emperor Nero at a time the glut of Covid bodies has led to crematorium parts melting, pyres being lit on pavements and hospitals staggering the release of the dead.
Several of the tweets were from verified handles linked to the Congress, Trinamul and DMK.
Former Karnataka chief minister P.C. Siddaramaiah wrote: “#Covid19 struggle in India is the reflection of @narendramodi govt. Assuming the govt was caught off guard for the 1st time, What is the status now? The preparedness is hopeless even now!! Modi feels he is bigger than India.”
The tweets carried images showing Modi playing musical instruments as pyres burned behind him.
Congress spokesperson Roshni Kushal Jaiswal tweeted a video of herself at a crematorium on the Ganga’s banks in Varanasi. She questioned Modi’s decision to address rallies in Bengal while death plagued his constituency as it did most places in India.
Bengal minister Sujit Bose tweeted a photo of several burning pyres and said: “Dear Mr Prime Minister, last year in March, you assured that Covid situation will be over in next 21 days. This is the picture of April, 2021, more than a year has been passed. This picture shows how incapable you are to serve this country.”
Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tej Pratap Yadav said: “When Rome was Burning the Nero was Playing the flute. #ResignModi”
DMK medical wing secretary Kanimozhi Somu hit out at health minister Harsh Vardhan for his acerbic reply to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who had advised Modi on ways of scaling up the vaccination campaign.
“Dear @drharshvardhan as you are talking Staying updated. Let’s talk about updates now. Kindly update the people of the country why your diplomatic brained government gave permission to ‘Khumbh Mela’ when world countries warned about a second wave?” she tweeted.
“Remember when your government asked people to come out on roads and scream ‘Go Corona Go’ what possible improvement did this government achieve by doing that?
“When your PM is addressing people of Bengal he says ‘I’ve never seen such a revolutionary crowd’ and when he addresses the people of the country he says maintain social distancing and wear masks?”
“PS: Kindly don’t respond by saying Congress government did all of this please! We’ve heard enough! So kindly stop pointing your fingers at others and kindly explain what this government has done to the people of the country during this pandemic other than fascist activities.”
Former IPS officer K. Annamalai, who contested the Tamil Nadu election on a BJP ticket, tweeted: “Trust our Hon PM shri @narendramodi ji & his team to get this done. Vaccine to be made available for all adults above 18 from May 1 is something no country can dare to attempt going by the sheer numbers & the challenges right from manufacturing, sourcing & to last mile delivery!”
A Tamil news aggregator handle reminded him that Rahul Gandhi had already last week demanded the vaccination of all adults.