Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said the Covid-ravaged nation was sinking under the weight of the Narendra Modi government’s indifference and incompetence, asserting in no uncertain terms that “India is crippled by a political leadership today that has no empathy for the people”.

Interacting with Congress members of Parliament through videoconferencing, Sonia insisted that the excuse attributing the Covid surge to the failure of the “system” was nothing but abdication of responsibility as the government had not only ignored advance warnings of a second wave but paid little attention to specific suggestions on tackling the crisis given by experienced people like former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Insisting that battling the pandemic required “able, calm and visionary leadership”, Sonia said: “Let us be absolutely clear — the system hasn’t failed. The Modi government has been unable to constructively channel India’s many strengths and resources. I say this categorically — India is crippled by a political leadership today that has no empathy for the people. The Modi government has failed the people of our country.”

As many MPs spoke of the gravity of the situation and lack of government support across the country, Sonia said: “It is heartbreaking to see people battling for their lives in hospitals, on roads, waiting in vehicles, far too many for want of any medical help at all.

“The government’s own empowered groups and its national task force for Covid-19 had warned that a second wave was imminent and urged it to plan and prepare for it. The parliamentary standing committee on health and Opposition parties had raised serious concerns regarding our preparedness. Yet, earlier this year the Prime Minister arrogantly boasted that he had defeated the pandemic and his party obediently felicitated him for his so-called success.”

Pointing to the failures to strengthen the supply chain or place sufficient orders for vaccines, the Congress chief said: “Instead, the government consciously chose to allocate thousands of crores for non-essential projects that have nothing to do with the people’s well-being.

“Instead of helping desperate patients, some BJP governments have been using the state’s repressive power to arrest people merely for crying out for help. They are cracking down on citizens’ groups that are trying their best to help. They are also compelling social media platforms and the media to obfuscate the truth and ignore the pleas of desperate citizens.”

Sonia flayed the Centre for leaving it to the states to fund the vaccination drive, allowing differential pricing and refusing to enforce compulsory licensing to increase vaccine production.

She said the absence of any concrete plan for vaccinating the poor amounted to a failure to fulfil the State’s moral obligation. She demanded an all-party meeting and the resumption of the working of parliamentary standing committees.

Rahul writes to PM

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister to remind him that “the people of India must be your foremost priority” and to urge him to do “everything in your power” to stop the “needless suffering”.

“It is also important to understand India’s responsibility in a globalised and interconnected world,” Rahul wrote to Modi.

“India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India a fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form. The double and triple mutant strains that we are currently grappling with are only the beginning, I fear.

“Allowing the uncontrollable spread of this virus in our country will be devastating not only for our people but also for the rest of the world.”

Rahul offered suggestions to check the spread:

⚫ Scientifically track the virus and its mutations across the country using genome sequencing as well as its disease patterns.

⚫ Dynamically assess the efficacy of all the vaccines against all the new mutations as they are identified.

⚫ Rapidly vaccinate our entire population.

⚫ Be transparent and keep the rest of the world informed about our findings.

“Your government’s lack of a clear and coherent Covid and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position: today the disease is growing explosively. It is currently on the verge of overwhelming all of our systems. GOI’s failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable,” the Congress leader wrote.

To prevent a repeat of the “manifold suffering” caused by last year’s lockdown, the government must “provide critical financial and food support to our most vulnerable people” and “be ready with a transportation strategy for those who will require it”, he said.

Rahul added: “I am aware that you are concerned about the economic impact of a lockdown. Inside and outside India, the human cost of allowing this virus to continue its march unimpeded will result in many more tragic consequences for our people than any purely economic calculations your advisers are suggesting.”

He called for various stakeholders to be taken into confidence “so we can all work together to safeguard India”, assured the Prime Minister of “our support in the fight against this ferocious pandemic” and requested him to consider “these urgent and time-sensitive suggestions”.