It may be the most obvious question in today's context but the BJP Rajya Sabha Member and a vocal senior politician Subramaniam Swamy has already replied to the question by expressing in his tweet, “India will survive Coronavirus Pandemic as it did Islamic invaders and British Imperialists. We could face one more wave that targets children unless strict precautions now are taken. Modi should therefore delegate the conduct of this war to Gadkari. Relying on PMO is useless.”
Ironically, what the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has expressed at the poor scenario of Covid Management and its appalling human loss would surely strengthen the expressed contentions of Swamy. Mohan Bhagwat, the man who is to write the Performance Report of Modi as the Prime Minister has taken an indirect dig at Union government when he held ‘‘both the government as well as the public'' responsible for the current Covid crisis for ‘‘dropping their guards after the first wave, despite indications from doctors.”
The people of Jammu and Kashmir too have to share the bite of such criticism as they sent a son of the soil, a Doctor himself, and whom they got saddled in PMO to assist the Prime Minister.
It is not only the people of J&K but the whole of the country, nay the world, that has seen the performance of PMO on the holocaust brought by Covid's second wave in India.
Except for keeping arrogance at its best, the J&K's man in PMO could not even help assess the preparedness of his scarcely populated home state not UT and home town for taking on Corona's fatalist punch that reportedly took 3222 lives and destroyed many families in J&K. The doctor often preferred indulgence into small matters what were not within his domain. He has been busy interfering in local administrative issues and transfers of Officers in various departments, Universities and Districts.
Only recently, a former legislator from his own party and one of his close associates has levelled serious charges of corruption against him.
What was more shameful, the doctor could not think of providing any financial assistance for augmenting the health infrastructure to deal with the pandemic till May 12. Taking a cue from Dr. Farooq Abdullah, who on May 6 recommended Rs. 1.4 Crores from his MPLAD fund for Covid treatment and relief in his constituency, the MoS in PMO too recommended his MPLAD fund of Rs. 2.5 crores that stood already released for various works in his constituency Udhampur-Kathua-Doda to be now used for setting up of Oxygen manufacturing units and purchasing testing, screening and other Covid related facilities in Hospitals during 2021-22.
Is it not just another exercise for publicity on simple diversion of funds released earlier for other works and for which its share of publicity already has been availed? Funny! A tale of travesty indeed!
Well, after the election results in five states and seeing his admirers turning critics, the PM is seemingly showing some signs of realisation on what has gone wrong while his associates do not show even an iota of remorse for the ineptness of their role in this unprecedented national crisis. Shedding baggage at PMO may make PM feel a bit lighter.
