Rahul Gandhi slams govt’s COVID-19 strategy

PTI, Apr 16, 2021, 7:02 PM IST

New Delhi:  Taking a dig at the government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said its strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic consisted of imposing a ”Tughlaqi lockdown”, ringing bells, and singing praises to the Lord.

The Congress-led opposition has been criticizing 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.

In a tweet in Hindi, Gandhi said, “The Central government’s COVID-19 strategy — Stage 1- Impose a Tughlaqi lockdown, Stage 2- Ring bells, Stage 3- Sing praises to the Lord.”

The Congress 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 thought out.

The party has also taken swipes at the government over its ”taali-thaali” call last year in which people across India clapped, rang bells, blew conch shells, and beat metal plates in solidarity with health workers fighting the novel coronavirus.

Later, on Instagram, Gandhi 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 behavior 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.

Rahul Gandhi’s attack on the government came amid a steep rise in coronavirus cases in the country with a record 2,17,353 new infections taking India”s total tally of COVID-19 cases to 1,42,91,917 on Friday.