The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of trying to create "falsehoods" about the Centre's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and questioned why his views were being sidestepped by Congress-ruled states.
Addressing the media via video conference, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also accused Gandhi of trying to weaken the country's resolve to fight this challenge since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. Prasad said Gandhi's campaign was based on falsehood, deliberate twisting of facts and misinterpretation.
He said anyone with better solutions should offer suggestions, and the government would be willing to look into them.
On Tuesday, Gandhi criticised the government's decision to continue with the nationwide lockdown and said contrary to expectations, infections had spiked during this period.
Prasad said, "Barring China, in the 15 counties which have been hit by the pandemic, the population is 142 crore and India has 137 crore, and so far we have 3.43 lakh deaths globally and in India 4,345. The recovery percentage is also high."
Criticising Gandhi for spreading "negativity, misinformation and fake news", Prasad questioned why the Congress governments of Punjab and Rajasthan imposed lockdown at the earliest if such a measure isn't a solution for Covid-19.
"Maharashtra (where the Congress is a partner in the ruling alliance) extended it till May 31. Do your CMs not listen to you?" Prasad said.
Attacking the Congress leader, Prasad said even as Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the credit for the "Bhilwara model" should go to Rahul Gandhi for his early warning, the sarpanch of the area had refuted the claim.
"He said his constituency was recognised by the health ministry for tackling the pandemic, whereas it was declared as a hot spot. He's asking for the Nyay scheme whereas the Modi government has announced a Rs 20 lakh crore package…he spoke about passing on benefits of the global oil price crash, but there was a VAT hike in Rajasthan and Punjab raised diesel prices," Prasad added.
To a question on Gandhi's remarks that the government should come clean on the border standoff with China, and that there should be transparency on a border row with Nepal, Prasad said, "Narendra Modi ke Bharat ko koi ankh nahi dikha sakta (No one can browbeat India.)"
On the Supreme Court's observation that concentrated efforts are required to address the issues of migrant workers, he said the court had "issued notice and the government of India or the state government, as the case may be, will respond on what steps have been taken".
He added, "I can only respond in all humility that all governments are doing their best. These are very challenging times, if anyone has better solutions to offer suggestions, we are willing to look into that. But in the given situation the best possible efforts are being done and will continue to be done."
Referring to the spread of the Coronavirus in Gujarat, he said the Centre has already sent the director of AIIMS to guide the state in controlling the pandemic. "We don't want to see the political colour of any state government, but the whole country has to work in unison. We have to overcome this crisis and I am confident that we shall overcome it," he said.
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