Rahul Gandhi accuses PM Modi of shedding crocodile tears on Covid deaths
New Delhi, May 22: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said a crying prime minister is the government of India's response to "the highest Covid deaths" in the country, devoid of vaccines and having the lowest GDP.
Gandhi made the frontal attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the grim pandemic situation in the country, leading two other senior Congress leaders, P Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh, too to join him in the attack.
"No Vaccines. Lowest GDP. Highest Covid deaths... GOI's response? PMCries," he said in an acerbic tweet on Friday, while also accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of shedding crocodile tears while paying homage to the people who died of COVID-19.
"Crocodiles are innocent," said the Congress leader in another tweet, in a dig at Prime Minister Modi turning emotional during his digital interaction with doctors in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi on Friday.
On his Twitter handle, Gandhi also shared a chart on the global economic condition and pandemic situation, tweeted by the Union government's former Chief Economic Advisor Kaushik Basu.
The chart showed India's GDP at minus eight against 3.8 of Bangladesh, 1.9 of China and O.4 of Pakistan.
In the same chart, India was shown suffering 212 deaths for each million of its population due to COVID-19 against 0.4 deaths in Vietnam and two in China.
"Due to the mismanagement of the Modi system, India has the black fungus epidemic along with the Covid pandemic," Gandhi said in yet another tweet, targeting the prime minister.
"Along with the shortage of medicines for Covid, India also has a huge shortage of medicines for this big disease. The prime minister will soon be making a 'taali-thaali' (clapping and beating of plates) announcement to deal with the disease," he said in a tweet in Hindi.
Another Congress leader Jairam Ramesh too attacked the government over the alleged poor pace of anti-Covid vaccination, saying the country needs vaccines, not crocodile tears .
"Claim -- Jan 2021: Modi Govt will vaccinate 30 cr Indians fully by July end.
Reality -- 22nd May: 4.1 cr Indians got both doses.
Claim -- 21st May: India will fully vaccinate all adults by the end of 2021.
Reality -- 21st May: Only 14 lakh vaccinated whole day," he said on Twitter.
"We need vaccines, not crocodile tears," Ramesh added in his tweet.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also cautioned the government saying both the IMF and WHO have cautioned India against the consequences of the slow pace of vaccination.
"The claim of the Union health minister of getting 216 crore vaccine doses by December 31 to vaccinate the entire adult population by that date must be backed by hard data. So far, it is not," he said in a series of tweets.
"We need data on the capacity of domestic producers, orders placed vaccine-wise, import contracts concluded, agreed schedule of delivery etc. Nothing has been disclosed so far, he said in a tweet.
"The final warning to the government is that if vaccination is not accelerated, it will not be possible to prevent a third wave," he said.
Chidambaram said the Modi government cannot say we did not anticipate these consequences"'.
"The government has been duly forewarned," he said.
The Congress has been critical of the government's vaccination policy and slow pace of inoculations.
Crocodiles are innocent.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 22, 2021
मगरमच्छ निर्दोष हैं।
No Vaccines
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 22, 2021
Lowest GDP
Highest Covid deaths...
GOI’s response?
PMCries. pic.twitter.com/b8TbfwnrlI
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Danish Siddiqui's killing in Afghanistan triggers condemnation from int'l media watchdogs, Amnesty
London/New York: Prominent global media watchdogs and a rights group have condemned the death of Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui in Afghanistan, demanding a thorough probe into his killing and urging the authorities to do more to protect members of the press.
Siddiqui, 38, was killed while covering clashes between Afghan troops and the Taliban in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar city. He was injured on Thursday night while accompanying Afghan soldiers who were attacked and succumbed to his injuries on Friday.
Siddiqui won the Pulitzer Prize in 2018 as part of the Reuters team for their coverage of the Rohingya crisis. He had extensively covered the Afghanistan conflict, the Hong Kong protests and other major events in Asia, Middle East, and Europe.
Reacting to the Indian journalist's death, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the New York-based independent, non-profit organisation, urged the Afghan authorities to conduct a swift and thorough investigation into the killing of Siddiqui and do everything in their power to protect members of the press.
The death today of Reuters photojournalist Danish Siddiqui is a tragic notice that even as the US and its partners withdraw forces, journalists will continue to work in Afghanistan, documenting whatever comes next at great risk to their lives, said Steven Butler, CPJ's Asia programme coordinator, in Washington, D.C.
Combatants need to take responsibility for safeguarding journalists, as dozens of journalists have been killed in this conflict, with little or no accountability, Butler said.
The International Press Institute, a global network of media professionals, on Friday mourned the death of Siddiqui and termed it an immense loss for journalism.
IPI is incredibly saddened to learn of the death of Danish Siddiqui, one of the most accomplished photojournalists of our age. Journalism has suffered an immense loss. We send our solidarity to his family and colleagues, the Vienna-based IPI said in a tweet.
"As a member of the Reuters team, he brilliantly chronicled some of the biggest international news events in recent years, with his images reaching millions around the globe and bringing him well-deserved recognition, IPI Deputy Director Scott Griffen said in a statement.
Danish's death is a reminder of the enormous risks that journalists face in conflict zones as they work to bring the news to the world. Afghanistan, in particular, remains an especially dangerous environment for the press, a situation we fear will escalate with the ongoing withdrawal of foreign forces from the country, Griffen said.
Siddiqui is the fifth journalist to be killed in Afghanistan this year. Three women media workers, who worked for the Enkass radio network, were killed on March 2 in Nangahar province, and on January 1, a journalist was shot dead in Ghor province, the IPI said in a report.
Journalists in Afghanistan are extremely concerned over their safety following the rapid withdrawal of US and NATO troops.
The safety of female journalists in Afghanistan is especially tenuous. According to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee, 20 per cent of Afghan women journalists have quit or lost their jobs in the past few months because of the attacks and killings, it said.
Amnesty International said the news of Siddiqui's killing was deeply shocking as it shared its condolences with his family, friends and colleagues.
The news of the killing of Danish Siddiqui is deeply shocking. We share our condolences with his family, friends and colleagues. Danish Siddiqui was a brave photojournalist, known for his searing images that carefully chronicled some of the worst humanitarian crises around the world, said Samira Hamidi, Amnesty International's South Asia regional campaigner.
To preserve the fundamental right to freedom of expression and ensure public access to reliable information, reporters engaged in professional missions in areas of armed conflict must be provided with better protection measures by the authorities, Hamidi said in a statement.
According to a report by Reporters without Borders (RSF), a total of 937 journalists have been killed over the past decade, with 50 journalists losing their lives in 2020, most of them deliberately targeted.
The report compiled by the Paris-based media watchdog said it had tallied 50 cases of journalists killed in connection with their work in 2020 (from January 1 to December 15), adding that this figure is very similar to 2019 (when 53 journalists were killed), although fewer journalists worked in the field last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 65 journalists and human rights defenders have lost their lives since 2018.
