Tharoor slams government handling of twin tragedy- coronavirus and economic slump

Last updated on February 15th, 2023 at 01:14 pm

As India lost thousands to the pandemic outbreak and many to hunger .caused by loss of job and loss of economic growth coupled, Congress MP Shahi Tharoor hit out at Narendra Modi led government in the Centre for its “utter mismanagement” of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak. Referring to the country’s deteriorating growth and escalating virus cases, Tharoor said that India witnessed “worst of both worlds” as the government failed to keep covid-19 onslaught and recession forces in check.

ANI reported that Tharoor during a debate over the centre government’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic in the Lok Sabha said, “We have neither managed to limit the spread of the virus nor have we managed to keep the economy afloat. The GDP [gross domestic product] for the first time in 41 years will actually shrink.”

Tharoor also slammed the Centre for not accepting suggestions from Opposition leaders including Rahul Gandhi over the nation-wide crisis management. “The failure to adequately recognise the scale and complexity of the problem the nation was dealing with, compounded their unwillingness to listen to the voices that warned well in advance of the consequences of ignoring the problem of such magnitude,” he said according to PTI.

The Congress MP criticised the government for lack of clear communication and an effective plan of action. He highlighted how the country badly suffered due to the sudden imposition of nationwide lockdown, causing unprecedented migration crisis. He said, “Even though the people of this country were given three days notice before locking down for a mere 17-hour Janata Curfew on a Sunday when most individuals spend a lot of time at home anyway, a trial for a longer national lockdown, what followed was horrific.”

Tharoor added: “The Prime Minister [Narendra Modi] in his address to residents of his constituency likened the disaster he had unleashed upon the nation to Kurukshetra. He said that the Mahabharath took 18 days before victory was earned and that tackling the COVID-19 will take 21 days – 180 days have passed, our national caseload is the second-largest in the world… Daily cases have nearly reached a lakh. The economy is in tatters having suffered a contraction far more severe than any other country.”

Besides, Tharoor has never left a chance to voice his concern for manipulation of majority vote under the parliamentary system and has been an ardent supporter of the idea that the India should adopt presidential system in order to restore whatever was left of its tattered democracy. His calls for changing British-borrowed parliamentary system, stemmed from the frequent episodes of ‘horse-trading of MLAs’ as seen in case of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. He said that it was a shameful exchange of allegiances for power and money, leaving no space for political principles and ideology, was a proof of how parliamentary system failed its people.

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As per the worldometers.info India had so far56,17,699 coronavirus cases and 89,579 deaths. According to the statement released bythe Union Health Ministry on Tuesday, India reported more than 1 lakh coronavirus recoveries in a single-day for the first time, leading spike in the recovery rate to 80.86 per cent, while fresh cases also went below 76,000 after two weeks, It added, “The total recovered cases are close to 44 lakh [43,96,399] and India tops the global figure of total recoveries. It accounts for more than 19% of the world total.”