• Home
• /
• coronavirus
• /
• Life and Living

India Covid crisis: Sonia Gandhi launches scathing attack on Modi govt in rare interview

Delhi - The fight against Covid must transcend political divisions, she said.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Narendra Modi government, describing its response to the second Corona wave as “a complete disaster, bordering on utter negligence and leaving the people to fend for themselves”.

ALSO READ:

>> Covid surge: India advises people to wear masks even at home

In one of her rare interviews, Gandhi told the Indian Express that the entire focus of the ruling party was on the assembly elections instead of "rising to the occasion to provide leadership and management of the huge upsurge in disease".

"Even now, their decisions are arbitrary and partisan. Their duplicity is inexcusable,” she said.

“The abdication of leadership that we are witnessing today is shocking and culpable. It is as if our people have been abandoned by the all-round collapse of governance and relinquishment of responsibility,” said the political leader.

The government’s own sero-surveys gave ample warning of a second wave and even the Parliamentary committee on Covid had come out with a 120-page document on the actions that had to be taken, she added. "Even the Congress had warned the government repeatedly. They ignored all three, even accusing us of spreading panic.”

Sonia Gandhi accused the Modi government of failing on every single front. “I feel deeply, deeply saddened and very angry at what they have done — or more accurately not done. It is truly tragic that we have come to this. Lives are being lost because those in charge didn’t get their priorities right.”

ALSO READ:

>> Covid: India issues advisory to states on how to tackle surge

The fight against Covid must transcend political divisions, she said. “We believe that fighting Covid is not a “You versus Us” battle but an “Us versus Corona” battle,” explained the Congress chief. “This battle is, therefore, beyond political alignments. We have to fight this battle together as a nation. The Modi government must realise that the battle is against Covid, it is not against the Congress or other political opponents.”