VARANASI: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Monday cited a purported order issued by the Varanasi district magistrate, instructing the health workers to watch Prime Minister Narendra Modi's programme in the district over television and other modes.
Chief Medical Officer Dr BB Singh said there was an order from the above for all health workers to be present at their workplace during the prime minister's function and listen to his programme.
This included doctors, paramedical staff and the Ayush department staff.
Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission in Varanasi on Monday and also inaugurated nine medical colleges in Siddharthnagar and other districts.
The district magistrate's order tagged by SP spokesperson Manoj Dhoopchandi Rai in a tweet asked all the officials and staff of the health services to stay at their centres and make arrangements on televisions, mobile phones and laptops to watch the prime minister's programme.
Dhoopchandi claimed that doctors were forced to watch the programme leaving their work.
In a tweet in Hindi, he said, "Now the BJP government has felt the need of making doctors hear the prime minister's speech."
Later, the SP leader told PTI, "The prime minister does not want to hear the views of the public, but only wants to impose his views on them. If somebody does not want to listen to Modi's speech, the BJP government has to issue orders to make them listen to his speech. This proves that the public is completely tired of the BJP government."
Varanasi DM Kaushal Raj Sharma could not be contacted for comments.
Congress leader Ramsudhar Mishra said, "Making the health department staff stop their work and compulsorily watch the prime minister's speech shows the dictatorship of the Modi government. The government has first curtailed the media and now, it wants to curtail the government workers and impose its arbitrariness on them. This is a worrying situation for any democratic country."