'Science Doesn't Lie': Rahul, Priyanka Slam Govt Over WHO's Excess Deaths Claim

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the government of "fudging" COVID-19 figures.

Congress leaders Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi. 

(Photo: The Quint/Kamran Akhter)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, 6 May, slammed the government over claims made by the World Health Organization (WHO) that 47 lakh people died in the country due to COVID-19, around 10 times the official figure of 4.8 lakh deaths reported by the government.

"47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. Not 4.8 lakh as claimed by the government. Science doesn't lie. Modi does," the Congress leader said in a tweet on Friday, with a graph claiming that India reported the highest excess mortality figures amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Demanding compensation for those families who had lost their kin due to the pandemic, Gandhi added, "Respect families who've lost loved ones. Support them with the mandated ₹4 lakh compensation."

Retaliating to Gandhi's remarks, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra on Thursday said, "Rahul Gandhi is constantly trying to demean India. From time to time they have let India down by attacking PM Narendra Modi and BJP, it's sad. Death analysis should not be done in terms of BJP ruled states and non-BJP ruled states."

"The whole world believes that the way India fought against coronavirus under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an example for the whole world. But in such a situation, it is very sad to do politics on the death figures. Whereas India has fought this war in a better way than developed countries," Patra said at a press conference.

'Govt Fudged Figures': Priyanka

Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused the government of "fudging" figures amid a shortage of oxygen in the country during the second COVID-19 wave.

"During the COVID tragedy, when crores of people were pleading for oxygen, medicines and hospital beds for their families, the whole emphasis of the government was on the fudging of figures. The countrymen should know what is the truth after all," Vadra asserted in a tweet.

Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath also alleged that the BJP government "suppressed" figures of COVID-19 deaths in the country, saying that he had been saying from the beginning that lakhs had died because of the virus.

"I have been saying from the very beginning that lakhs of people have died in the country due to corona, whereas the BJP government, instead of saving lives and accepting the truth, kept suppressing the figures," Nath said.

Congress national spokesperson Pawan Khera meanwhile demanded an apology from the government towards all those who had died due to the pandemic.

"Lakhs of those who died, due to a cavalier approach of Modi government, definitely deserve an acknowledgement and an apology," Khera said in a tweet.

Govt Rebuts WHO's Claim of Excess Deaths

Meanwhile, India officially denied the WHO's report of excess deaths in the country. The government rebutted the global health body's use of a mathematical model to calculate the number of COVID-19 deaths, saying that the "figure is totally removed from reality."

The health ministry further said that India has an "extremely robust" system of births and deaths registration and called the WHO's system of data collection "statistically unsound and scientifically questionable."

"India has consistently questioned WHO's own admission that data in respect of seventeen Indian states was obtained from some websites and media reports and was used in their mathematical model," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had said.