Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is leading the state's coalition government, attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday for mishandling the Covid-19 outbreak right from start and turning the country into a graveyard.

The party also asked Modi to accept responsibility for the growing number of casualties since the outbreak of the brutal second wave of the pandemic.

“If he (PM) can flaunt his picture on every vaccination certificate, why shouldn’t he own up for the deaths too? The PM should now put his photo on every Covid death certificate," said JMM general secretary and party spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharjee, who also urged the Supreme Court to take control of the situation as a "policy paralysis" had rendered the Union health ministry ineffective.

Addressing an impromptu press conference on the eve of May 1 when everyone above 18 years will be eligible for vaccination, the JMM general secretary said that the decision to open up the immunisation drive now had turned into a cruel joke.

Jharkhand, like several other states, is unlikely to begin the latest phase of vaccinations from Saturday, owing to depleting vaccine stocks.

Bodies being cremated at Harmu Muktidham in Ranchi. Picture by Manob Chowdhary

“As we speak, the state government has not got vaccines to begin the drive from May 1 as announced by the Union government. We have about 5 lakh doses as on date, which is inadequate to cover those who took the first dose and those who are above 45. Chaos over the unavailability of vaccines is evident in many states as many who have got their first dose are not able to get the second dose. As the nation is reeling under medical crisis, vaccines for all from May 1 is yet another cruel joke by the Modi government,” he said.

Blaming the Modi government for the Covid mess in the country, the JMM leader said that th Modi government’s handling of the pandemic was turning the country into a graveyard.

"First, they centralised everything related to Covid in the first phase by taking arbitrary decisions. Then they virtually announced that the virus is in its endgame in the country. And when the virus hit again, they kept ignoring it by being busy with elections. Now, they have pushed everything on to the the states in the name of decentralisation,” he said.

Bhattacharjee said that the JMM was now appealing to the Supreme Court to take over the affairs of the health ministry to streamline things under its watch.