Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs Shri Anurag Thakur has shared on Whatsapp an Image which replies many of the Questions Posed to his Party related to Covid-19 and Vaccination. Text of the same is as follows:-
Narrative: Modi or government did not see second wave coming
Truth: On March 17 2021, at a COVID review meeting with CMs, PM Modi alerted states about a second wave coming and asked them to take quick steps before it gets too late. This was when India still had only 30,000 new cases per day!
Narrative: States were not warned about 2nd wave
Truth: We already read about PM’s warning in March 2021. People like Mamata Banerjee & Bhupesh Baghel, busy in elections, actually missed PM’s meeting! This apart, multiple advisories & communications were sent to states in the first few months of 2021 about surge in cases.
Narrative: India has the highest number of cases in the world!
Truth: India has more people than Europe and North America put together. So, in absolute numbers India will obviously be higher. But in terms of cases and deaths per million population, India stands at 110th place in the world or so!
Narrative: Modi’s Bengal rallies and Kumbh caused second wave
Truth: ‘Farmer protests’ egged on by politicians, rallies by Rahul Gandhi in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, all those pushups he did, etc were COVID proof, right? The second wave took off from Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Punjab. Kerala’s election rallies were mainly by Congress & Left. In the other states, there were no elections or Kumbh. Latest data actually suggests that Punjab, the epic center of ‘farmer protests’ was the origin of the second wave!
Narrative: Why did India export vaccines while denying it to our own people?
Truth: This is nonsense. Indians have been given over 17 crore doses so far. The number of doses sent abroad is only about 1/3rd of this. Most such doses were part of GAVl’s effort to send vaccines to poor countries & contractual obligations of vaccine manufacturers.
Narrative: Poor people won’t get free vaccines
ruth: Of the total vaccines that will be procured, 50% is procured by the Centre. These are given to states free of cost. Additionally, many BJP ruled states have also declared free vaccines for all!
Narrative: Price of vaccine is different for states and Centre
Truth: Price of vaccines to states is a quote by private companies & not a government declared price. States are free to negotiate and get a price they deem fit. After all, it was the states that asked for freedom to negotiate & procure.
Narrative: Deaths are being under-reported
Truth: Some media houses say government is incompetent at fighting the pandemic. Yet the same people say government is so super-competent that they are running a completely organised under-reporting racket including even Congress-ruled states. Absurd, isn’t it?
Narrative: So, is Govt of India’s data on COVID deaths 100% accurate?
Truth: There is no ‘Govt of India’ data. All the data comes from states. Whatever they report is collated & shown. In a country like India, there’s no way someone can hide deaths. Some people show burning pyres only to shock you, but w.r.t data, it doesn’t mean anything. Burning pyres can be seen even without a pandemic in crematoriums
Narrative: Why not spend money on fighting COVID than on Central Vista?
Truth: Central Vista is a project that costs Rs 20,000 crore over several years. In contrast, the vaccination budget in just 2021-22 is Rs 35,000 crore and the health budget of the country in just 2021-22 is over Rs 2 lakh crore, about 10 times that of Central Vista cost!
Narrative: It’ll take 2-3 years to fully vaccinate India
Truth: India vaccinated only healthcare workers, front line workers & senior citizens in its first few vaccination phases. Deciding overall vaccination pace based on the pace of vaccination during such specifically small sections of population is erroneous. Vaccination was fully opened for all only on May 1.
Narrative: Sigh, if only we had New Zealand’s PM for India…
Truth: Sigh, if only people had better IQ. New Zealand’s population is less than Bengaluru! If North America & Europe were one country, they’d still have less people than India. Plus, they’d still have 4 times more COVID cases than India and about 6 times more COVID deaths
