Rahul slams centre for not having a coherent Covid and vaccination strategy in letter to PM

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rapid surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, in which he urged the PM to impose a national lockdown fearing that the double and triple mutant strain of Coronavirus is "only the beginning".

Taking down the BJP-led Central Government he said that the Government of India’s "failures" has made another "devastating" national lockdown almost inevitable.

"Your government’s lack of a clear and coherent Covid and vaccination strategy, as well as its hubris in declaring premature victory as the virus was exponentially spreading, has placed India in a highly dangerous position: today the disease is growing explosively. It is currently on the verge of overwhelming all of our systems. GOI’s failures have made another devastating national lockdown almost inevitable," he stated in his letter.

He further added, "It is critical that our people are prepared for such an eventuality. To prevent a repeat of the manifold suffering caused by last year’s lockdown, the government must act with compassion and provide critical financial and food support to our most vulnerable people. In addition, it must be ready with a transportation strategy for those who will require it."

Gandhi asserted that the human cost of allowing this virus to continue its march unimpeded will result in many more tragic consequences for our people than any purely economic calculations PM's advisors are suggesting.

While assuring PM about his own support in the fight against this pandemic, he suggested that various stakeholders must be taken into confidence so that all can work together to safeguard India. 

The Congress leader requested to the PM, "In such an unprecedented crisis, the people of India must be your foremost priority. I urge you to do everything in your power to stop the needless suffering that our people are going through."

He also asserted that it is also important to understand India’s responsibility in a globalized and interconnected world as allowing the uncontrollable spread of this virus in the country will also be devastating for the rest of the world.

"India is home to one out of every six human beings on the planet. The pandemic has demonstrated that our size, genetic diversity and complexity make India fertile ground for the virus to rapidly mutate, transforming itself into a more contagious and more dangerous form. The double and triple mutant strains that we are currently grappling with are only the beginning, I fear," he explained.

Mr Gandhi recommends certain suggestions to deal with the crisis:

• Scientifically track the virus and its mutations across the country using genome sequencing as well as its disease patterns.
• Dynamically assess the efficacy of all vaccines against all new mutations as they are identified.
• Rapidly vaccinate our entire population.
• Be transparent and keep the rest of the world informed about our findings.

India has recorded 4,14,188 fresh Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours -- the highest so far, along with 3,915 fatalities, taking the total number of cases in the country to 2,14,91,598.