PM Narendra Modi`s tears did not save the lives of people, says Rahul Gandhi, releases white paper on COVID-19 management

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday released a white paper on the COVID-19 management in which he stressed that 100 per cent vaccination of Indian citizens will be an 'important pillar' in the fight against the deadly coronavirus.

The Congress MP from Kerala's Wayanad said that its purpose is to help the country prepare for a possible third wave of coronavirus and not to criticise the Narendra Modi government.

"The aim of this white paper on COVID-19 is not finger-pointing at the government but to help the nation prepare for the third wave of infection. The whole country knows that a third wave will strike,'' the Congress leader said.

“The whole country knows the third wave of COVID-19 is coming. We urge the government to prepare for it,” Rahul Gandhi said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday.

Slamming the Centre over its handling of the COVID pandemic, Rahul said, ''90% of people who have died could have been saved. The biggest reason for this was the lack of oxygen at the time. While there is no shortage of oxygen in the country. PM's tears did not save the lives of people but oxygen could have." 

Calling the Centre's COVID management in the first and second wave 'disastrous', Rahul Gandhi added, "We've tried to point out the reasons behind it. I would even go so far as to say that there might be waves even after the third wave of COVID-19 as the virus is mutating."

The Congress Wayanad MP further stated that the government must treat all states equally for COVID-19 vaccinations while cautioning that they should not be viewed as BJP or opposition states.

This comes a day after Rahul Gandhi termed the Centre`s decision of not paying an ex gratia to kin of those who died of COVID-19 as "cruelty" and said that the compensation is just a small help for the people and the Modi government is unwilling to do that.

However, he appreciated the Central government over a record number of vaccinations on Monday. "Yes, good work has happened yesterday (highest number of vaccines administered) but this is not a series of events. But the government has to make this process work not just for one day but every day until we`ve vaccinated our whole population," Gandhi said.

On Monday, India administered 86,16,373 COVID-19 vaccine doses, the highest-ever single-day vaccination in the world so far, the Union Health Ministry informed today. 

Thus India has vaccinated more than the population of New Zealand in a single day.