‘Isn’t Cong Weakening COVID Warriors’ Morale?’ Nadda Asks Sonia

BJP President JP Nadda wrote a letter to Congress-interim Chief Sonia Gandhi. Image used for representation purpose.

(Image: The Quint)

Claiming that he is writing “with a deep sense of pain”, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President JP Nadda on Tuesday, 11 May, in a letter to Congress party’s interim-chief Sonia Gandhi, said:

“You must ask yourselves – in times as these, is your party’s conduct weakening the morale of these COVID warriors? Deliberately or otherwise, are your actions trying to weaken this fight against COVID-19?”

Nadda also asked Congress to stop misleading people and “creating false panic”.

This letter by JP Nadda comes as India battles a crippling second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, which has resulted in a surge of COVID-19 cases, crematoriums running round the clock and a widespread sense of severe loss and devastation.

BJP PRESIDENT NADDA’S ALLEGATIONS

Stating that the focus of his party is solely on the pandemic, Nadda, in his letter, unfurled a slew of allegations against the Congress party.

For starters, Nadda alleged that the Congress party tried to create vaccine hesitancy “during once-in-a-century pandemic”.

He also claimed that the conduct of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, during COVID will be remembered for duplicity and pettiness.

Further, Nadda said:

“States with BJP/NDA government have announced resolve to help the poor and underprivileged by providing vaccines for free. I’m sure that Congress governments in various states also feel strongly for the poor. Can they also come out with similar decision to provide vaccines for free.”

BUT WAIT...

This remark by JP Nadda comes even as states with Congress as part of the government have already announced free jabs.

• Punjab announced free vaccines on 22 April.
• Rajasthan announced free vaccines on 26 April.
• Chhattisgarh announced free vaccines on 21 April.
• Maharashtra announced free vaccines on 25 April.
• Jharkhand announced free vaccines on 10 May.
• Tamil Nadu had announced free vaccines before MK Stalin’s Secular Progressive Alliance (which Congress is part of) took over, and that decision has remained unchanged.

WHAT ELSE DID NADDA SAY?

Nadda also claimed that he was “saddened but not surprised” by Congress party’s purported conduct.

“While there are a few members of your party doing commendable work in helping people, their hard work gets eclipsed by negativity spread by senior members of the party.”

Further, he wrote that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “India’s fight against COVID is driven by the unwavering belief in principles of science, support to innovation, trust in our COVID warriors and cooperative federalism.”

FULL TEXT

Read full text of Nadda’s four-page-long letter here:

BACKGROUND

Alleging that the horrific second wave of COVID-19 was a direct consequence of the Narendra Modi government’s “indifference, insensitivity and incompetence”, the Congress had on Monday, 10 May, said that the Prime Minister must “atone” for his “mistakes” and “commit” to serving the people, instead of carrying on with a “personal agenda”, oblivious to the suffering all around.

India on Tuesday, 11 May, reported 3,29,942 new coronavirus cases, taking the tally in the country to 2,29,92,517. The death toll increased by 3,876 to 2,49,992.