BJP tears into Rahul Gandhi over Covid death numbers

Rahul Gandhi has accused the Modi government of hiding the casualties of Covid-19. The former Congress President shared a New York Times poster, which claimed that, in the worst case, India may have witnessed 4.2 million covid deaths. It puts the figure of covid deaths at 1.6 million and calls it a more likely scenario. Six lakh deaths, it says, is a conservative estimate. The official death count stands at just about 3.07 lakh (as of early this week).

Plugging the poster, which has been discredited by experts, the Congress leader said that numbers don’t lie but the Government of India does.

The BJP has hit back at Gandhi for sharing the random figures, which look inflated. A lot of BJP voices tweeted that the death numbers are provided by the State governments and not the Centre. “Moreover, 52% active #COVID19 cases & 44% deaths are reported in 5 States ruled by his party,” wrote CT Ravi of the Karnataka BJP.

BJP national spokesperson Amit Malviya lashed out and wrote, “GoI doesn’t have its data. It is what states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Chattisgarh etc report. Not to forget Jharkhand and Maharashtra, where you are hanging on to the coattail of regional parties. How about calling Congress Chief Ministers and ask them not to lie?”

New York Times has not provided scientific evidence to its claims.