The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday hit out at the BJP-led government at the Centre and at the Election Commission, saying they have “the blood of Covid-19 patients on their hands” as they refused to consider the serious threat of coronavirus and contributed to the “super spread” of the pandemic in West Bengal during the month of April.
TMC MP Sougata Roy told reporters in Kolkata that in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have addressed 50 poll rallies so far, with two meetings held on an average daily despite the surge in COVID-19 cases.
As the Election Commission repeatedly refused to accede to TMC’s plea to club the last three phases of polling in West Bengal, over 1.4 crore people, including polling personnel, will be exposed to the virus in the last two phases on April 26 and 29 alone, he claimed.
The veteran parliamentarian said, “The Centre and the EC have the blood of COVID-19 patients on their hands as they refused to consider the serious threat to the health of the people and stuck to their agenda. The EC has also been censured by Madras High Court.”
Continuing his attack, Roy said, “The action of the BJP-led government at the Centre and the EC contributed in the super spread of coronavirus in Bengal in April. The virus was not that active in March, when far lesser number of cases were reported,” he said.
He accused the Narendra Modi government of misleading people with regard to vaccination for coronavirus. “The Modi government has gone back on its promise of giving vaccine to anyone in the age bracket of 18 years and above. It is now saying states can vaccinate people of 45 years and above. What about the vaccination to those aged between 18 and 45 years?”
He also castigated the Modi government for dual pricing of vaccines by the producers.
Roy hit out at the mismanagement in the vaccination drive and said some private hospitals are now saying that they can only administer the second dose and not the first one.
“The Modi government’s ham-handed vaccination policy has led to such a situation. The Centre should have monitored production of vaccines and distributed it rationally among the states beforehand. The onus is on the Centre,” Roy said.
He claimed that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written to Modi as early as in February urging him to build a stock of vaccines and ensure their adequate distribution among the states, including West Bengal, to make sure a large segment of people gets vaccinated.
“But the hon’ble PM did not acknowledge her concern nor give any response as he was apparently busy with other things,” Roy said.
West Bengal on Tuesday logged 16,403 fresh COVID-19 cases, the highest single day spike in the state so far, pushing the tally to 7,76,345, as per a bulletin issued by the state health department.
The toll climbed to 11,082 with 73 more fatalities, it added.