Biren fails to control Covid-19 in Manipur, why is Modi silent over Pegasus snooping: Congress

Imphal: BJP chief minister N. Biren Singh, who is also the health minister, has failed to bring down the daily Covid positivity rate under 1 percent and the entire BJP government is responsible for the Covid deaths in the state.

AICC in-charge Manipur Bhakta Charan Das said this while interacting with reporters at Congress Bhavan, here, on Thursday.

Das said the entire state is under curfew for 10 days, after months of restrictions due to Covid by the BJP government in Manipur. Despite restrictions, lockdown, containment and curfew, Biren government has failed to bring down the daily Covid positivity rate. “Why is the chief minister unable to stop the daily Covid deaths of 15 to 19 persons everyday in the state of hardly 30 lakh of the population?” Das asked. He said in Rajya Sabha, the Union government of India states that there has been no Covid death due to lack of oxygen in states or Union territories.

“But, the ground reality in Manipur today is that the daily Covid deaths are rising due to lack of oxygen as there is no availability of functioning ventilators in all government hospitals, private hospitals and even at RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences) and JNIMS (Jawaharlal Nehni Institute of Medical Sciences) in Imphal due to lack of oxygen. Why is the state government not conducting Oxygen Audit?” He asked.

“As per Manipur Government’s official data report on Covid in the state on July 21, 15 people died due to covid and the Covid positivity rate on the day was 19.4 percent while 1,327 new positive cases of Covid were detected in the state. On July 20 daily Covid positivity rate was 15.5 percent. 17 people died due to covid and 1127 new positive cases of Covid were detected in the state. The daily Covid positivity rate has been rising in the state, with daily Covid deaths ranging from 10 to 19 for the last many weeks,” he said.

Ventilators are not available for Covid patients in all private hospitals, district government hospitals and they are not provided to the Covid patients at RIMS and JNIMS in Imphal, he added and asked, “Why are ventilators not working in RIMS & JNIMS for Covid patients?”

Das criticized that the BJP government has not provided even a single penny as ex-gratis compensation to the next kin of those who died due to Covid in the state. “Why is the BJP government not helping the family members of those who died due to Covid in Manipur?” He asked.

Why is the chief minister not providing RT-PCR test kits in mass testing for the people of Manipur? He added.

Under the present BJP Government in the state, there is no hope of achieving 100 percent recovery from Covid cases and zero Covid death with zero Covid cases in Manipur.

“Pegasus snooping is an unconstitutional attack on Freedom of Speech and Press, and is a direct illegal intrusion in our privacy as our Right to Privacy is a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. This is nothing but a complete destruction of everyone’s lives in democracy. How can Prime Minister turn a blind eye when the whole nation has been snooped?” He said.

“The former Union IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad evaded the question in Rajya Sabha on whether the Union government of India sought Pegasus services. Why did the then Union IT minister keep silent over Pegasus in the Parliament? Today, even the name of the present Union IT minister is in the snooping list of Pegasus. It is extremely dangerous to know that under Prime Minister Modi, many current Union ministers, top politicians, ex-election commissioners, intellectuals and many influential personalities have been snooped. Despite this nationwide snooping over anyone’s phone by Pegasus, the Prime Minister is maintaining a stoic silence. Why is the Prime Minister silent?” He asked.

The Congress party demanded a white paper on the illegal snooping by Pegasus during the regime of Prime Minister Modi. It demanded a Supreme Court-led Judicial Probe against Pepsts snooping in India.

“We want a high-level independent investigation to find out and expose as who benefitted from Pegasus and for whom Pegasus snooping was done in India, and why and how Prime Minister did not block Pegasus snooping in our nation,” Das said.

“Pegasus snooping is the vindication of the fact that there has been an undeclared emergency, by illegally intruding in all our private and personal lives of citizens and persons in the nation, by the deliberate silence from the Prime Minister,” he added.

“Prime Minister Modi’s silence on Pegasus snooping means there is no use of an ordinary mobile set to use password to lock his or her phone screen. When all ordinary Indian is not safe within its own privacy how can Digital India be safe? How can India he safe?” Das said.

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