New Delhi:
A day after the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed that 47 lakh Indians had died due to Covid-19, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the central government, saying, ‘Science does not lie, Modi does.’
He also demanded an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh for the affected families from the Government of India.
He tweeted, “47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. Not 4.8 lakhs as claimed by the government. Science does not lie, Modi does. Honour the families who have lost loved ones. Support them with a mandatory compensation of Rs 4 lakh.”
Earlier, the GoI questioned the modeling method used by the WHO, saying it is disappointed with its “one-size-fits-all” approach.
Questioning the projection, Dr VK Paul, Member-Health, NITI Aayog pointed out that despite India’s vigorous writing and rational communication at the ministerial level, the organization used a number that is based on modeling assumptions.
Randeep Guleria, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi, also objected to the WHO’s approach and listed three reasons for it.
“I have an objection and I will give three reasons for that. India has a very robust system of birth and death registration, which has been in place for decades. We know it works very well and that the data is available,” said Guleria.
He said that the data should be used to look at the number of deaths due to Covid-19 during this period and WHO did not use that data. He further said that India has been very generous in offering compensation for people who die of Covid-19, that is, in a very open manner.
Last month, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed that 40 lakh Indians had died during the coronavirus pandemic and took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a New York report claiming that the Indian government was following the WHO’s additional mortality rate over the coronavirus. Stopping attempts to publish estimates.
Gandhi wrote on his Twitter handle, “Modi ji does not speak the truth, he does not even allow (others) to speak.”
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