By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, May 30:
While BJP did not celebrate the 7th anniversary of the NDA Government at the centre in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Congress preferred to organise protests against the Narendra Modi Government in different parts of the country on Sunday.
Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala, while addressing media in New Delhi described the Modi rule is an example of a series of failures on all fronts including the failure to reduce unemployment, uplift common men, and failure in ensuring women’s safety.
In a meeting organised in Mumbai, Maharashtra Congress Chief Nana Patole, Congress leaders Bhai Jagtap, Charanjit Singh Sapra, and others lambasted the BJP Government at the centre.
In a statement released under the hashtag, “7 years Of Modi Made Disaster” the Mumbai Congress said that “ The Narendra Modi-led BJP government completes seven years in office this week. India’s political economy has witnessed a massive landfall. From the Indian economy to the social landscape, our country has been on the decline. The Indian economy, however, during these years tanked to its worst performance level, with the economy going into a technical recession and the unemployment levels touching a new high. Under the Modi government, the nation has gone through tough times. In the global ranking, India is at the lowest rank, the Congress claimed.
Even now that India is facing the second wave, the BJP government couldn’t care less about its citizens. With many lives lost due to the lack of vaccinations, oxygen and Remdesivir, the second wave that our country faces is a Modi-made disaster.
Even now, rendering the Central Vista an essential service, the Modi government ignores the plight of all its citizens. Instead of the central vista, the centre could’ve procured 1. 62 crore vaccine doses or 22 crore Remdesivir vials, or 3 crore 10 litre oxygen cylinders or built 13 AIIMS with a total of 12,000 beds or have saved the Dearness Allowance of 15 lakh serving armed forces personnel & 26 lakh military pensioners or have saved interest cuts on National Savings Scheme & SBI Savings Bank Scheme for 30 crore depositors. But the government thought of thinking of themselves and their greed”.
In the meanwhile in the 77 th episode of “Mann Ki Baat” on Sunday. Modi said that “ We are seeing how the country is fighting against Covid-19 with all her might. This has been the biggest pandemic in the last hundred years and during this very pandemic, India has confronted many a natural disaster with fortitude. There were cyclone Amphan and cyclone Nisarg…many states had floods…there were many minor and major earthquakes; there were landslides. Just recently, in the past ten days, the country faced two major cyclones – cyclone Taukte on the west coast and cyclone Yaas on the east coast. Both these cyclones affected a number of States.
Under these trying and extraordinary calamitous circumstances, people of all these cyclone-affected States have displayed courage. People who led rescue and relief work deserve more appreciation than can be expressed. I salute all of them. The Centre, State governments and local administration have come together to face this calamity. My heart goes out to all the people who’ve lost their near and dear ones. Let us all firmly stand by those who have borne the brunt of this disaster.
India’s victory-resolve, her Vijay-Sankalp has always been equal in magnitude. We’ve seen in the days gone by how our doctors, nurses and frontline warriors have toiled day and night without bothering about themselves, and continue to do so. Amidst all this, there indeed are people who’ve played a major role in the fight against the second wave of Corona.
When the second wave came, delivering medical oxygen to remote parts of the country was indeed a huge task. If an oxygen tanker moves fast, the slightest error can lead to the risk of a big explosion.
Many plants manufacturing industrial oxygen are located in the eastern parts of the country. Transporting oxygen from there to other states of the country requires many days. In confronting this challenge, the country was helped by cryogenic tanker drivers, the Oxygen Express and Air Force pilots…many such people worked on a war footing, saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
While the Modi government completes 7 years, the terror attack that killed 40 men of the Central Reserve Police Force in Pulwama on February 14, 2019, was a turning point in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in the summer. The outrage it triggered not only threatened to derail the BJP’s campaign but also had the potential to dent Modi’s image of a strong leader. The reaction, however, was decisive. Indian fighter jets pounded terror camps in Balakot, inside Pakistani territory, on February 26. The crisis was turned into an opportunity. Political discourse was set by the issue of national security. The pain of demonetization was forgotten. The BJP had a landslide victory.
Now, as the deathly strain of Covid-19 wreaks havoc across the country, despondency has again set in. While it is proving to be a challenge for both the Centre and the state governments, Modi has been steering the national response to the pandemic, and the expectations have been much higher from him.
