With the menace of Covid-19 getting scarier by the day, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the Centre’s strategy to fight the pandemic consisted of imposing a ‘Tughlaqi lockdown, ringing bells and singing praises to the Lord. Rahul said one year later, the country continues to suffer and infrastructure have crumbled while the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) continues to turn away from his responsibilities.
The Congress-led Opposition has been criticising the Government over its handling of the pandemic and the vaccination drive, while the Centre has maintained that its timely steps have been instrumental in fighting Covid-19. “The Central government’s Covid-19 strategy — Stage 1- Impose a Tughlaqi lockdown, Stage 2-Ring bells, Stage 3-Sing praises to the Lord,” Rahul tweeted.
Later, on Instagram, the Gandhi scion posted a video from his remarks to the media on this day last year when he had talked about lockdown providing time for ramping up health infrastructure and contrasted it with a video report of how there is a massive shortage of resources to fight the pandemic currently.
“One year later, our people continue to suffer, our infrastructure continues to crumble and our Prime Minister continues to turn away from his responsibilities,” he said in his post.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appealed to the people to follow COVID-appropriate behaviour such as wearing masks and taking other precautions. “We have to win this battle together with caution and compassion,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.
The grand old party in the past also has compared some of the government’s decisions to those taken by Delhi Sultanate ruler Muhammad bin Tughlaq, to allege that they were arbitrary and not well though out.