Rahul Gandhi attacks govt over WHO Covid death numbers
New Delhi(PTI): Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the government over a WHO report which claimed that there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, saying "science does not lie, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does".
Gandhi also demanded that the government should support the families that have lost loved ones by giving them the mandated Rs four lakh compensation.
In a tweet, he said, "47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. NOT 4.8 lakh as claimed by the Govt. Science doesn't LIE. Modi does".
"Respect families who've lost loved ones. Support them with the mandated ?4 lakh compensation," the former Congress chief said.
The WHO on Thursday stated that 14.9 million (one million=10 lakhs) people were killed either by COVID-19 directly or due to the pandemic's impact on health systems and society.
According to the report, there were 4.7 million Covid deaths in India, which is 10 times the official figures and almost a third of Covid deaths globally.
India strongly objected to the use of mathematical models by the World Health Organization (WHO) for projecting excess mortality estimates linked to the coronavirus pandemic in view of the availability of authentic data, saying validity and robustness of the models used and methodology of data collection are questionable.
47 lakh Indians died due to the Covid pandemic. NOT 4.8 lakh as claimed by the Govt.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 6, 2022
Science doesn't LIE. Modi does.
Respect families who've lost loved ones. Support them with the mandated ₹4 lakh compensation. pic.twitter.com/p9y1VdVFsA
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
