Rahul Gandhi on Friday dared Narendra Modi to show leadership amid the national Covid emergency and blamed the Prime Minister’s inaction and lack of understanding of the pandemic for the large number of deaths in the second wave.

“Do your duty. Become a leader. Say, ‘I will handle the situation’. Dum dikhao (Show your strength),” Rahul said at a news conference.

He said the Centre should not blame the Opposition and the states for the crisis and warned of more waves if the vaccination drive is not intensified.

“We can see the government didn’t understand the first wave. But the second wave is the Prime Minister’s failure. Prime Minister ne jo nautanki ki, apni zimmedari poori nahin ki, is kaaran second wave hai (The second wave happened because the Prime Minister resorted to drama instead of discharging his responsibilities),” Rahul said.

“The tragedy is that there is a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of the problem even now.”

Rahul explained his “nautanki (drama)” barb by recalling how Modi had wasted time exhorting people to clap and bang on plates to ward off Covid, taken the mindless decisions to allow the Kumbh and address huge rallies in Bengal, and failed to make enough advance booking for vaccines while exporting doses.

“Change your style of functioning, Mr Prime Minister. Lakhs of people have died because of your deeds. By not vaccinating people, you are helping the virus. More people will be killed,” Rahul said.

He described the government’s decision to flaunt its “vaccine diplomacy” as “insanity”.

“We were warning him (to evolve) a sound vaccine strategy since last year. We warned him of a devastating second wave in February. But the Prime Minister was living in a different world,” he said.

“Nobody tells him the truth, he doesn’t get any feedback. He was celebrating victory over Covid. The US placed orders for vaccines in June last year. Why didn’t he order? Even now, he is trying to figure out how to repair his image. It is gone. It is dead. Now work to save the people.”

Asked why he had described Covid as “Movid” in one of his tweets, Rahul said: “Had the Prime Minister acted differently and saved people’s lives, it would have been Covid. But Modi created space for Covid by his actions. That’s the message I wanted to give out and used the first letter of his name to say ‘Movid’.”

Rahul said he had discussed the pandemic with several experts.

“(It) is not a simple disease; it (the virus) changes, mutates. You give it time and space and it will become more dangerous. You have to close the doors; don’t give it time and space,” he said.

“Lockdowns, masks and distancing are not the solutions. The only permanent solution is vaccination. Only 3 per cent of the population has been vaccinated so far.... The US has vaccinated 50 per cent of its population.”

Rahul added: “If vaccination continues at this rate, we will be able to complete the exercise (only) by May 2024. The third wave is guaranteed and will be deadlier. There will be a fourth and fifth wave as well. With such a long time (given to it), the virus will mutate and vaccines won’t be of help.

“We are having casualties but are yet to get into war mode. There should be a group briefing the Prime Minister daily and finalising strategy. The Prime Minister doesn’t think strategically. He is an event manager. We don’t need events; we need a strategy.”

Rahul called the government’s data on Covid deaths “a 100 per cent lie”. The Congress leader had recently flagged a New York Times report that suggested India’s actual counts of Covid infections and deaths might be several times higher than the official figures.

“When I speak, everybody says, ‘Rahul Gandhi is frightening people’. No, I am not frightening people, I am trying to save people,” Rahul said.

“When I spoke in February, I was trying to save my country’s people. I was worried for them. I didn’t want to see what I have had to see over the last 2-3 months.”

He added: “As journalists, it is your duty to put pressure on the government. (Tell the government) don’t lie about the number of people who have died.... You (the government) are lying to the people of India, and when you lie, you give this virus space.... Stop giving the virus space.”

Rahul dismissed blame games and conspiracy theories as part of the RSS philosophy.

“The Opposition is the warning system. Our job is to bring information to the government. They say there is a conspiracy to defame India. There is a conspiracy of ignorance deeply embedded in this government,” he said.

“It’s not a political matter; it’s about people’s lives. Pressuring journalists, Facebook, Twitter won’t help. You have to act on the feedback. How many Opposition leaders have you (Modi) talked to?”