When a Covid patient from his constituency failed to find a hospital bed, Union minister and Ghaziabad MP V.K. Singh picked up his phone on Sunday and — did not make a call.
He sent out a tweet, appealing to the Uttar Pradesh administration for help.

Proving, as the Twitterati have been hammering home since then, that the Narendra Modi government has mismanaged the Covid crisis so badly that not only are hospitals out of beds but even ministers can only plead helplessly on Twitter instead of issuing direct instructions.

The Hindi tweet, which tagged the district magistrate of Ghaziabad, said: “@dm_ghaziabad Please check this out. Please help us, my brother needs a bed for corona treatment. No beds are available in Ghaziabad. @shalabhmani @PankajSinghBJP @Gen_VKSingh.”

Scorn poured in. “A Union minister pleading for help on Twitter for a hospital bed for his brother. This is a broken republic,” a social media user, Mandakini Gahlot, tweeted.

Military veteran Sushant Singh did not spare the former army chief: “This is a Union minister of the Modi government asking for help in his own constituency, neighbouring Delhi. That the man is also a former army chief is incidental. This is the real state of affairs in UP and at the Centre.”

A while later, V.K. Singh posted another tweet clarifying he was not related to the patient by blood.

“Clarification: I tweeted this request so that the district administration can reach the person in need and provide him with medical care that his brother requires. He is not my brother by relation, but by bond of humanity. I think it’s an alien concept to some.”

Later, the minister of state for road transport and highways deleted the original tweet and the clarification.

The avalanche of derision continued.

Twitter user Kalkeya posted: “MP of Ghaziabad, ex-army chief has to ask for help via Twitter itself explains the situation in UP the largest state of India.”

Raj Kishore Pandey tweeted: “Shocked!!! An MP who is also a Union minister has to take the help of Twitter.”

Late on Sunday afternoon, V.K. Singh lashed out at the critics. “Am amazed at IQ level of trawls (sic) and fastest finger channels. Tweet was forward of a tweet to DM and says ‘please look into this’. Forwarded tweet is in hindi. Bed needs have been sorted out by DM & CMO, hence to DM. Suggest correct your understanding,” he tweeted.

If the minister did not compose the tweet, it’s puzzling that his earlier “clarification” had remained silent about this and, instead, claimed the patient was his brother by “bond of humanity”.