An atmosphere of fear and apprehension is around the world for Corona. Everyone is trying how to save human society from the clutches of Corona. People from all walks of life are coming together to fight against this deadly epidemic. In India, more than 300,000 people are still officially dead. Doctors, police, the administration, volunteers, the media and even the general public are fighting together to find a way to prevent Corona. But in such a dire situation, some political parties in our country see Corona as a political opportunity. They have been trying to figure out how to discredit Corona as a failure of the government.
A few days back, a very controversial tool kit (program, plan outline) of the Congress Party was circulated on social media. The BJP called it of the Congress, but the Congress denied it. Although the Congress denies the toolkit as its own, but the way Congress party is propagating its work against central government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Kumbh Mela as so on, proves that they are creator of the Tool Kit.
In Social Media sympathizers of the Congress Party has questioned the authenticity of the toolkit, which has caused a great deal of controversy. However, when the BJP’s National Spokes Person Sambit Patra e-mailed the source of the toolkit and who emailed it to everyone, the Congress is now in the backfoot. Interestingly the social media activist who emailed this to some others suddenly deleted her account from all her social media proves that the Congress is the creator of that toolkit.
The way in which the toolkit is said to have been propagated must have been effective, and in some cases the Congress and other opposition parties have succeeded in leading the agenda. There is nothing wrong with blaming the central government for Corona. Those who are in power must take responsibility for everything. But is it acceptable to blame the entire Hindu society even the whole country? If politics reaches at this level and the political parties do not hesitate to blame the nation for the power, this is highly unfortunate. The ideology of these political parties are even more detrimental than Corona’s.
The Kumbh Mela is super spreader but Eid is happy social gathering
The holy Kumbh Mela is a showcase of Hindu political extremism, according to that controversial Toolkit. The “toolkit” suggests politicizing the congregation by repeatedly labelling it as a ‘super spreader’ to hint at BJP’s Hindu politics. The Toolkit, on the other hand, is said to promote the Muslim Eid festival as a festival of social goodwill and family gathering. Before the toolkit appeared on social media, the so-called intellectuals in Congress and its supporters were trending on the social media, especially Twitter, calling the Kumbh Mela a super spreader and Eid as a festival of social goodwill. This proves that the Congress is behind that toolkit. They are forgetting that the tradition of the Kumbh Mela is thousands of years old. The Kumbh Mela was held in the country when no political parties were existed. Not only have they defamed the Kumbh Mela, they have defame the faith of the Hindus, the Sadhus. Kumbh Mela was organized strictly following Kovid guideline. The Covid Negative certificates were mandatory to participate in the Kumbh Mela. One Maharashtra state government’s minister said the corona had spread in Maharashtra for the Kumbh Mela. But at that time Sadhus from Kumbh even had not returned to Maharashtra from the Kumbh Mela. During Ramadan, markets in Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai were crowded, mosques were openly violated Covid Guidelines, but the state governments did not take any action. As a result, the number of corona positives in Muslim-majority areas is on the rise in those states. But those toolkit journalists and politicians never said a word against this.
Calling the second wave the Indian variant is an attempt to defame country
In the same toolkit, the second wave of the corona is ordered to be blamed as Indian variant. Imagine a small country like Singapore had opposed when Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal once said “ Singapore variant”. However, the Congress Party did not understand the dignity of the Rs 130 crore countries and planned to speak out as the Indian variant. According to Toolkitt, the Indian version would discredit the prime minister’s reputation in the world. Sadly, they are not going to discredit Modi, they are going to defame the country, they failed to understand.
False propaganda against the Prime Minister
Due to Modi’s election campaign in West Bengal, Corona has spread, why Modi has not built oxygen plant, why he exports a vaccine abroad where there is no vaccine for the people of our country, why the central government has started a Rs 1,000 crore central vista project, that’s all there in the tool kit. On social media, some Congress sympathisers have accused the Central Vista project as Modi’s residence. The new parliament building, the Central Vista project, was first planned during Manmohan Singh’s government. However, they were unable to do so due to lack of funds. At that time, they estimated the cost at Rs 3,000 crore. When the Modi government came to power at the Center, it reduced it to Rs 800 crore. But now the Congress is trying to mislead the public by linking this project to Corona.
Some political and social activists are claiming that the Corona has increased in the country for Modi’s election campaign. However, the states with the highest number of active cases are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat. West Bengal ranks ninth on the list. If the corona spread for Modi’s election rally, how many more patients came out of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh? In Kerala, Rahul Gandhi was doing rallies. Was Modi rallying in Brazil, France, Turkey, where Second wave made devastation ? Corona is a global pandemic. That fact must be taken into account. The whole world has been affected. However, some friends do not agree to believe this fact.
Health care is a state issue
According to 17th Schedule, Article 246, Health is a State Subject. It is the responsibility of the state governments to provide health care. However, it appears that the states are dependent on the central government at all levels. From supplying oxygen to various states, to building special covid hospitals, to supplying ventilators from PM Care funds, providing PPE kits, essential medicines, vaccines, in all aspects Central Govt did tremendous job.
Politics over dead body
Toolkit has another topic that is very pathetic. Toolkit suggests to post selective photos of dead bodies and tag foreign Medias. What could be more tragic than this? Across the country, who is losing his father, who is losing his mother, who is losing his son, the Congress party is still looking for a political opportunity. The death toll in the corona is the lowest in India. In the United States, 1,826 people died per million, in Brazil it is 2129 per million, and in France it is 1669 per million. In India, there are 222 deaths per million. So it would not be right to say that the government has failed in the fight against Corona.
History will never forgive this mentality of the Congress party’s plans to defame the entire Hindu society, the whole country, in order to discredit the government.
By Anil Biswal
Anil Biswal is a Senior Journalist based at Odisha. With an experience spreading over 8 years, he has been actively involved with news reporting, news analysis and managing news operations. His experience ranges from covering national and regional politics to observing public policy to producing research on cultural history. He tweets at @BiswalAnil
