Journalism of Courage
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Wednesday shot off a letter to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi asking him to “suspend the Bharat Jodo Yatra” or strictly follow the Covid-19 protocols in view of the rising coronavirus cases across the globe, especially in China.
However, during the recent Gujarat Assembly polls, in which the BJP registered a record landslide by winning 156 of the 182 seats, the party’s key campaign plank was to focus on the Narendra Modi government’s “successful fight” against Covid, highlighting how “crowds could gather without masks” in India even as other countries continued to witness a surge in Covid cases.
In the course of their Gujarat campaign, top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, other Union ministers, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and party president J P Nadda, as well as party candidates, projected a narrative that spotlighted the “visionary actions of PM Modi” in developing indigenous vaccines to fight Covid-19.
While PM Modi himself mentioned the Covid vaccination drive in his every speech, the BJP’s campaigners and candidates credited him for “ensuring that we can gather in such big numbers without masks, even as Europe, America and China” continue to battle the Covid surge.
However, during PM Modi’s campaign at various locations in Gujarat, their respective district health departments had followed the Covid protocol and got persons in proximity to the PM undergo RT-PCR tests although the mask mandate was not enforced in any of the election rallies across the state.
At a rally in Vadodara’s Padra on November 19, Union Minister Parshottam Rupala had said, “Look at the crowd and no one is wearing a mask, neither am I… Two days ago, there was a news that a city in China has been put under lockdown. A country like China has to grope in the dark to come out of Covid and you and I are sitting here and holding massive gatherings without masks. The reason is double dose of vaccination and then a booster. This doesn’t happen so easily. Remember the days of the lockdown and the grim situation we were in… Modiji has brought us out of it.”
During his electioneering, Nadda recounted his days as the Union Health Minister and spoke of the number of years it had taken pre-Modi India to develop vaccines for various diseases.
Addressing a gathering in Ankleshwar in Bharuch on November 18, Nadda said, “It is because of PM Modi’s efforts that India is able to come out of Covid-19 and Indians are moving around without masks… Otherwise, in countries like US, where even President Joe Biden has to wear a mask. Many countries in Europe and many parts of the US have not been able to complete their double vaccine dose but we have reached the stage of the booster dose.”
Addressing a rally in Sehra in Panchmahal district on November 22, Nadda said: “It took 25 years for a TB dose to reach India, 28 years for tetanus to be available in India and a century to have a vaccine against Japanese Flu. The vaccine had been ready in 1906 in Japan but came to India in 2006. But look at how Covid-19 came in April 2020 and Modiji had formed a task force immediately. And within nine months, we had not one but two vaccines. Ask the Congress people when they come to ask for votes that they used to make fun of the vaccine calling it Modi vaccine and BJP vaccine… how did you like it? Modiji has given you another life too.”
Nadda then went on to say, “Europe has not been able to come out of Covid but India has been able to thwart Covid. No one is wearing a mask and sitting so close. This is the ‘suraksha kavach’ of vaccine given by Modiji to crores of people. The US has not been able to finish its vaccination programme… We have given vaccines to 100 countries, out of which 48 have received our vaccines for free. We are not a country which takes, but a country which gives.”
PM Modi, in his speeches during the campaign, sought public testimony to the point that nearly 80 crore people had been vaccinated “without being charged a single penny”. He asked the people at the rallies: “Have you all got two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine? Did you have to pay even a penny for the doses? Was it administered to you for free? That is because your son, sitting in Delhi, has been worrying about you and your family during the pandemic.”
A government official told The Indian Express that over 200 persons had undergone RT-PCR tests in Dahod and Vadodara on November 23 to be able to acquire an access pass to be on the dais to hand over mementos to the PM. The official said, “Covid-19 may have declined but as part of the health protocol around PM Modi’s visit, RT-PCR tests are mandatory especially for those going on to dais. It has been followed with due diligence everywhere during the election campaign.”
