The bodies were piling and the wounds of those fighting for life continued to bleed. But the hospital was burning the midnight oil to fix the tiles and paint the walls. For the Prime Minister was to come visiting.

To many, this seemed to mirror perfectly the grim reality behind the glittering façade of the “Gujarat model”.

Youth Congress president B.V. Srinivas tried to capture the grotesqueness of the situation in one sentence: “Aaj Morbi mein lashon ka event hai (There’s an event of corpses in Morbi today).”

Morbi, the Gujarat town where 135 people were killed on Sunday when a bridge collapsed days after being reopened post-repairs, was a mute witness to its rundown government civil hospital getting an overnight facelift before Narendra Modi’s visit on Tuesday to meet the victims.

Sweepers were brought from Rajkot city to help their local counterparts. Painters, masons and carpenters worked overtime. New tiles replaced broken ones, dirty walls were painted bright, water coolers were installed and new beds were purchased to spare the Prime Minister the sight of patients sharing beds. New cabins were built.

Local reporters filmed the desperate makeover that was continuing through the night in a hospital where the injured had been admitted.

Angry relatives of the patients screamed about the dearth of doctors and medicines, not to speak of drinking water, and the pervading squalor. They alleged before the cameras that the spruce-up was being done to hide the reality from the Prime Minister.

A message the Congress posted on its official Twitter handle said: “Morbi’s civil hospital is ready to welcome the emperor. This is the Gujarat model. On one side are the macabre scenes of death and destruction. On the other side is event management for the ‘Raja Ji’. Sensitivities are dead.”

Senior Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil, who visited the hospital on Tuesday evening, told The Telegraph from Morbi: “The real issue is the lack of concern for people’s problems; nothing has been done in the last 27 years of BJP rule (in Gujarat) to strengthen the health infrastructure.

“Amid the unbearable shrieks and pain, Modi continued his political programmes (campaigning for the upcoming Gujarat polls). And now the hospital’s look has been changed to hide the distressing reality.”

Even parts of the roads leading to the hospital have been re-laid. The Youth Congress posted a video with this message: “Only the red carpet is missing.”

Gohil said: “Posters have been on display in the town for the last five-six days proclaiming that the bridge could be reopened to the public because of the good work of the ‘double-engine government’ (BJP governments in the state and at the Centre). The BJP cannot wash its hands of the tragedy now.”

The bridge had been reopened on October 26 after seven months of repairs by a company that specialises in wall clocks and e-bikes. It appears the reopening was done hurriedly to coincide with the Gujarat New Year and give the BJP a boost ahead of the Assembly elections.

“Your Gujarat model is a sham. The bodies of the dead haven’t been recovered yet but the show must go on; the event has to be organised,” Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.

“Show some sensitivity, Modiji. Gujarat propelled you to the post of Prime Minister. People’s lives have been ruined; they are in distress but you can’t do without the spotlight for a day?”

Another Congress spokesperson, Supriya Shrinate, said: “The Gujarat model is made up of corruption and commission. Why was the contract for the maintenance of the bridge given to a wall clock-making company without any technical expertise (relating to) this job?”

She highlighted how officials of the BJP-ruled Morbi municipality have claimed they did not know the bridge – a tourist attraction -- had been reopened when thousands of New Year revellers knew it and had bought entry tickets.

“Twelve thousand tickets were sold over five days but the local municipality says it doesn’t know how the bridge was opened. And now the hospital authorities are busy buying new stuff and whitewashing the hospital hours before the Prime Minister’s visit,” Shrinate said.

“Are they preparing for a wedding reception? What’s this obsession with the camera? Are photo sessions so important? There is no (sense of the) value of human lives? The entire focus is on sprucing up the hospital. People are fed up with this fake Gujarat model. Now they want their real problems solved.”

Videos of slums and dirty habitations in Ahmedabad being blocked from view by white cloth and tin sheets during then US President Donald Trump’s visit in February 2020 have resurfaced on social media.