The BJP on Saturday celebrated six years of the Narendra Modi government, releasing an audiovisual clip on its “unprecedented” achievements just hours after a road accident killed 24 migrant workers in the latest reminder of the stranded labourers’ sufferings.

The BJP’s official Twitter handle released “Modi sarkar ke 6 saal... bemisaal (Six years of the Modi government… without parallel)” in the morning, shortly after senior leaders including Prime Minister Modi had expressed “sadness” at the 5.15am tragedy on an Uttar Pradesh highway.

The celebratory video makes no mention of the government’s handling of the Covid-19 crisis and dwells mostly on old schemes such as Swachh Bharat and Make-in-India.

Sleek and professionally produced, the nine-minute clip appeared on the party Twitter handle with a picture of Modi throwing his arms wide in celebration of the bigger mandate he won in the summer of 2019.

The Modi government had been first elected to power at the Centre on May 16, 2014.

The video claims the country is blessed to have Modi as its leader and says he has been working day and night to make India a “vishwa guru (world leader)”.

It stresses that Modi had been declared the prime ministerial candidate (ahead of the 2014 election) on the basis of the “aspirations” of the people.

It describes how Modi has been following the vision of the BJP’s ideological founders Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Deendayal Upadhyaya, and how he has been furthering the development programme of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The posting of the celebratory video in the middle of a humanitarian crisis the like of which the country has not witnessed since Partition attracted sharp criticism on social media.

“Unbelievable. People are dying like flies & the BJP handle is *celebrating* its six years anniversary. Shameless, tone deaf & power drunk,” a Twitter user commented.

Several other tweeters too felt it was “cruel” to celebrate the anniversary at a time the country’s Covid-19 count had crossed China’s and millions of jobless migrant workers were walking hundreds of miles home and dying on the roads.

Although the BJP did not organise any event to mark the day apart from posting the video, the party has been known for beating its own drum during the coronavirus crisis.

It has been claiming that India has done much better than other countries in tackling the virus thanks to Modi’s leadership, and projecting the government’s special economic package as a “historic” one that would turn India into an economic powerhouse.