Visuals of Narendra Modi appearing to choke on tears while talking about Covid deaths evoked ridicule and disdain from the Congress, which said a Prime Minister who had failed the nation during an unprecedented crisis was now trying to fool the people with theatrics.

“India doesn’t need tears of guilt, India needs compassion and healing. India needs resolve to defeat Covid, India needs governance & delivery,” party communications chief Randeep Surjewala said.

Party spokesperson Pawan Khera said: “Can we forget he was celebrating prematurely, making fun of experts who predicted grim scenarios and ignoring experts? He could have prevented the situation that is making millions suffer and cry.”

Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said: “What steps did the Prime Minister take to prevent this situation? The Prime Minister needs to act instead of giving speeches and suggestions. The parliamentary standing committee had alerted the government on an impending oxygen crisis. No action was taken. Imagine, a government can ignore the advice of a parliamentary committee amidst a pandemic… Actually, this points to criminality.”

Many Covid deaths in India have been of people who could not get oxygen support.

Within minutes of Modi seeming to turn emotional while speaking of those who have died of Covid, messages accusing him of shedding “crocodile tears” and expressing anger at his government’s mishandling of the pandemic started appearing on social media.

By evening, #CrocodileTears was the top trending hashtag on Twitter in India. At midnight, it was still the top trend, with 1.17 lakh tweets.

Many uploaded pictures and videos of Modi addressing huge election rallies and gloating over the large crowds as the second surge rampaged through the country. Not only are the rally crowds being seen as super-spreaders, that the Prime Minister was electioneering when he should have been battling the pandemic has angered people.

Opposition leaders and several social media users had been predicting over the past few days that Modi would “stage an emotional drama” to divert attention from his failures. On Friday, one of them, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, posted a video in which he had predicted last month that Modi would soon cry on television.

Rahul Gandhi arrives to pay tribute to his father and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 30th death anniversary at his memorial Veer Bhumi in New Delhi on Friday PTI

Soon after the visuals of a sobbing Modi flashed on television screens, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Gandhiji believed in Rama Rajya. Now we have D-rama Rajya.”

Pawan Khera said: “The country has suffered for one year. Millions of people have cried. The country is bigger than the Prime Minister. A few drops of tears cannot make up for what the crores of people have faced because of his misgovernance. We are not concerned if he sobs in apradh bodh (guilt consciousness).”

The Congress has accused the Prime Minister of abdicating his responsibility and taking wrong decisions like allowing the Kumbh, where more than 20 lakh people gathered and no Covid protocol was followed. It has also criticised Modi for devoting his time and energy over the past several months on elections, when he should have been preparing for the second wave of the pandemic, and ignoring suggestions from people with vast administrative experience, such as former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Modi had boasted at a World Economic Forum dialogue in January that India had defeated the pandemic.

While all countries had booked bulk vaccine doses in advance, Modi dithered and now India is facing a severe shortage.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted on Friday: “Mr Modi, vaccinate, not procrastinate.”

The Congress also tore into the government and the BJP for obstructing those who were selflessly serving the people.

After Twitter marked BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra’s tweet on an allegedly forged and defamatory Covid-related “toolkit” as “manipulated media”, Pawan Khera said: “BJP leaders and ministers should be ashamed. They don’t do their work and obstruct others through forgery and lies.”

The Congress announced a nationwide plan to help the poor in rural areas register themselves for vaccination.