NEW DELHI/BHOPAL: Receiving continuous flak from the Opposition over the handling of the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, the ruling BJP on Saturday got some fodder to launch a counter-attack after senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath used the term “Indian Corona” to describe the pandemic situation in the country.
Addressing a virtual conference on Friday, Nath had said that last year the world was saying the pandemic was caused by “Chinese virus”. “But now our country has become infamous due to Indian Corona or Indian variant. Presidents and prime ministers of many countries are talking about the Indian variant,” Nath said.
Alleging that the Modi government isn’t concerned about Covid management, Nath had said the Centre is busy with image management. “Earlier Mera Bharat Mahan was India’s worldwide identity, but now Mera Bharat Covid is the country’s new identity,” he stated.
As the video of Kamal Nath’s statement started circulating in social media, senior BJP leaders on Saturday launched a sharp broadside on the Congress, alleging that the grand old party is trying to “malign” the image of India.
Union minister Prakash Javadekar alleged that Nath’s comment is aimed to weaken India’s fight against the pandemic. Accusing the Congress of indulging in negative politics, Javadekar told reporters that the opposition party has refrained from playing any constructive role in dealing with the pandemic. “Even the WHO hasn’t used the term (which was mentioned by Nath). The WHO has stated that there is no variant of the coronavirus linked to any country,” said Javadekar.
Reacting to the BJP’s criticism, Nath said, “Why are they (BJP leaders) circulating that small video clip? Why aren’t they showing what I had said before and after that. Let them do what they want, including lodging a case.”
Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, who had earlier hit TV screens with allegations of a “Congress toolkit”, stuck to his accusations against the principal opposition party despite Twitter giving “manipulated media content” tag to some of the BJP leaders’ tweets about the “toolkit”. Patra claimed that Nath’s remarks confirmed the saffron party’s allegations against Congress.