As India faces an oxygen crisis, antiviral drug remdesivir shortage, both sold exorbitantly in the black market also, leaving India gasping for oxygen, and as bodies pile up, India’s politicians face rising public anger over the second COVID-19 wave. Rebecca Anderson, (aka Becky Anderson) journalist and the anchor of CNN International’s flagship news and current affairs on her show on CNN said, “Should Prime Minister Modi resign?” Today, once again, BJP is holding three rallies in West Bengal amid the raging COVID fury. It has to be remembered that the triple mutant B1. 617 has been detected in Maharashtra, Delhi, and West Bengal.
Just six weeks ago, India’s Health Minister Harsh Vardhan declared that the country was “in the endgame” of the COVID-19 pandemic. On Saturday, India reported the world’s highest single-day number of new cases since the pandemic began, for days in a row with +349,313 new cases in a day and fatalities of +2,761 marking the highest count globally.
A hashtag on Twitter #GodiMedia by angry citizens criticizing the Indian media for passing the buck off the Prime Minister where some big media outlets blamed the system added fuel to fire and pain to injury. State governments were begging the Central government for more oxygen and remdesivir. Unfortunately, thousands died because oxygen did not come on time for many. The courts have held the Central government accountable; however, the media has shifted the focus o the state governments.
In a shocking move to curb criticism of its failures, the Centre asks Twitter to take down posts criticizing the handling of the COVID situation and this has been condemned by the public as a cowardly act by the government.
the most coward govt in the history of #India #ModiSarkarHiSystemHai#भारत_का_करूर_पुत्र_मोदी #PMCares #TSUNAMI #सिस्टम
COVID-19 in India https://t.co/a9pI0cXtPv— Sarpanch #FarmersFirst (@Sarpanch3737) April 24, 2021
Another hashtag #PMCares trended on Twitter venting sarcasm on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had amassed approximately $1.27 billion in donations in the PM CARES fund, yet it is alleged that there was a lack of funds to manage the pandemic with everything in short supply – intensive care unit beds, medicine, oxygen and ventilators and bodies piling up in morgues and crematoriums.
India’s second wave, which began in mid-March, has devastated communities and hospitals across the country. India reported 332,730 new cases on Friday, marking the highest daily case count globally while the United States is second, having recorded a high of 300,310 cases on January 2.
While India’s population is roughly four times that of the US, its daily cases still fall behind the US when adjusted for population size (in cases per million people), but the harsh reality is
India’s total COVID numbers now reveal more than 16 million confirmed cases and nearly 187,000 related deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
India is at the peak of the second vicious wave of COVID-19 or should say COVID-21 because it now comes with new highly noxious mutations and the peak does not appear to be crashing in the near future.
While state governments were sinking into troubled waters of the COVID catastrophe, the Prime Minister remained at large silent unless he appeared on his Mann Ki Baat,” and he intermittently did state about the “alarming” rise in cases and asked the public to stay vigilant, ordered states to increase testing, etc., but hesitated to take containment measures.
There is a sense of anger at the amount of money the Prime Minister used for the Vista project, (a new parliament building) of ₹20,000 crores (US$2.8 billion) and Prime Minister Modi has bought two aircraft worth ₹ 8,000 crores, yet hardly anything was done for building hospital infrastructures, nor increasing facilities to allow advancement in the medical field to enhance ease of procurement.
He also was adamant to continue on with his elections rallies of thousands of human masses cramped together without masking or distancing. The Kumbh Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage and the largest gathering in the globe of over 2 million people was endorsed by the BJP state government in Uttarkhand and the Prime Minister did nothing to stop it. It was soon discovered that the ones tested in the Kumbh Mela were COVID positive among top saints as well. The BJP IT cell was hasty to send out the news that the vast sea of people attending the Kumbh Mela was fake news and said that those were old fake pictures, in a cover-up to protect the party, but the truth was evident with every trusted media source reporting the same.
The Prime Minister praised the country’s success, even as states imposed new restrictions and hospitals began running out of space. “Despite the challenges, we have a better experience, resources, and, also the vaccine,” his office said in a press release on April 8. Two days later, he celebrated 100 million doses of vaccine administered nationwide, tweeting that they were “strengthening the efforts to ensure a healthy and Covid-19 free India.”
It wasn’t until recently that the Prime Minister finally emphasized the urgency of the situation and laid out new measures in a late-night address to the nation. “The country is again fighting a very big battle against Covid-19,” he said. “A few weeks ago, the conditions had stabilized — and then came the second wave.”
This was said when India’s outbreak was already the world’s biggest in terms of absolute daily numbers. World Health Organization reports that nearly 28% of all new cases worldwide in the past week have come from India.
In the meantime, citizens are feeling abandoned, devastated by the noxious outbreak grappling with fears and sorrow with a deep sense that the government has left them marooned to face COVID alone, with spiraling rates of drugs and oxygen, lack of hospital beds, waiting anxiously to cremate and bury their loved ones whose faces they never saw for the last time because the bodies sealed. Sorrow and hopelessness have sunk into the nation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says, “The second wave has shaken the nation,” however, he still refuses to cancel his election rallies! Such situations had led Becky Anderson on her show on CNN News International, to ask the piercing question, “Should Prime Minister Narendra Modi resign?”
Angry citizens have taken their voices and feelings on social media writing:
International Media is Covering actual ground Reality than #GodiMedia making false claims and Propaganda of Supreme Leader.
International Media is Covering actual ground Reality than #GodiMedia making false claims and Propaganda of Supreme Leader.#भारत_का_क्रूर_पुत्र_मोदी#मोदी_शैतान_भुगतें_किसान#No_Oxygen_No_Vote#ModiSarkarHiSystemHai@SUNNYAMBEDKAR3 pic.twitter.com/A8fbP1vmdl
— Karamjot Singh (Faridkot) (@Karamjot_Singh1) April 25, 2021
“Just imagine pain of her parents, she gave all her money in #PMCares & today she is grasping for life due to lack of oxygen.”
Just imagine pain of her parents, she gave all her money in #PMCares & today she is grasping for life due to lack of oxygen. @INCIndia @RahulGandhi @LambaAlka pic.twitter.com/gMwYfblPgn
— Doga (@DogawithINC) April 25, 2021