‘RECKLESS’ PICTURE: Photo sparks backlash as deaths snowball in India

Fresh images of political rallies taking place in India have attracted strong criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has come under fire in recent weeks for his government’s handling of the devastating second wave.

A whopping 360,900 cases recorded on Wednesday — the most by a single country in a 24-hour period since the beginning of the pandemic — has scattered the nation’s healthcare system, which is now dealing with over 3,000 deaths per day with dwindling oxygen supplies and waitlists for ICU beds.

The nature of India’s tightly-packed population has spelled disaster for social distancing as the latest mutated wave wreaks havoc through the country. New statistics out of Kolkata in the region of West Bengal revealed 45 per cent of civilians turning up for tests are returning positive results.

RELATED: How India’s COVID outbreak got so bad

Despite the urgent need to stem the recent “tsunami” of infections, members of Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have continued to publicly campaign for the under-fire leader, holding political rallies to build support ahead of municipal elections.

The BJP tweeted pictures of thousands attending a rally at Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation last week. The close-up shots of rallygoers packed shoulder to shoulder — with some even forgoing masks — unsurprisingly struck a sour note with critics around the country.
 

Narendra Modi's murderously reckless party held this mass rally in southern India earlier today. Only a few hundred kilometres from this event, a local journalist told me, "people are dropping like flies". pic.twitter.com/zP9LAMCU3B

— Kapil Komireddi (@kapskom) April 27, 2021

Kapil Komireddi, author of the book Malevolent Republic: A Short History of the New India, condemned the ruling party, describing the political push as “murderously reckless” given the current climate.

“Only a few hundred kilometres from this event, a local journalist told me people are dropping like flies,” Komireddi said in a tweet on Tuesday.

Just in case if you thought your Prime Minister has become sensitive and sympathetic for COVID deaths.

This is today's BJP election rally in Telangana. Just to throw some light, the last campaign BJP did was in West Bengal which is seeing an upto 600% surge in COVID cases. pic.twitter.com/rfMnZnvNIl

— Vinay Mishra (MLA-Dwarka) (@vinaymishra_aap) April 27, 2021

Aam Aadmi Party politician Vinay Mishra also shared photos of the BJP election rally in the state of Telangana, writing: “Just in case if you thought your Prime Minister has become sensitive and sympathetic for COVID deaths.”

He noted that the last BJP campaign was in West Bengal, which is seeing an up to 600 per cent surge in COVID cases.

Believe it or not, this is all happening in the country that recorded record cases of over 3,60,000 cases and over 3,000 deaths in 24 hours. #indiacovidsecondwave #secondwave #covidappropriatebehaviour #BJPRally #centralvistaproject #indiacovicrisis #taleoftwoindias pic.twitter.com/Tysk7Ku5Uy

— Quint Neon (@QuintNeon) April 28, 2021

“I’ve never seen such huge crowds,” Mr Modi said in West Bengal on April 17 — even as India set a world record of 230,000 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours.

The BJP has since deleted its post advertising the rally.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said limited vaccine coverage and a false sense of confidence after stamping out the first wave in 2020 have helped create the “perfect storm” gripping the subcontinent nation this month.

The WHO has pulled out all stops for the 1.4 billion strong population, diverting 2,600 health experts from other programs to help stem the latest wave, which has seen an incredible six million new cases emerge in April alone.
 

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“As is true in any country, WHO has said the combination of relaxing of personal protective measures, mass gatherings and more contagious variants while vaccine coverage is still low can create a perfect storm,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jašarević told CNN on Wednesday.

Mr Jašarević said the healthcare system was overrun partly because of panicked patients needlessly rushing to hospitals after testing positive. The WHO representative said up to 85 per cent of positive cases could be managed safely from home in isolation.

“Currently, part of the problem is that many people rush to the hospital (also because they do not have access to information/advice), even though home-based care monitoring can be managed very safely,“ he said. “Less than 15 per cent of people who have the infection actually need hospital care and even fewer will need oxygen.”

US officials: ‘This hasn’t peaked yet’

US President Joe Biden has pledged support for India, telling Mr Modi in a phone call on Monday: “You let me know what you need, and we will do it.”

Kurt Campbell, the White House’s National Security Council coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, said the dire situation in the subcontinent will take time to settle as world powers organise international aid.

“We all have to realise that this is not a challenge that is going to resolve in the next several days,” he told a virtual press conference this week, via Reuters.

“So this is going to require determination … We’re going to work really hard for some time, but we’re confident we can do it.

“We anticipate that at the height of this kind of complex emergency, it’s going to be very fluid for a while as things fall into place. We are collectively going to have to be very agile and very nimble.”

Critics condemn PM Modi’s social media crackdown

Mr Modi’s BJP has copped consistent criticism in 2021 after reports of the Indian government censoring anti-Modi tweets began filtering through the press. The recent push to stamp out online dissidents was made possible by new social media laws forcing companies to hand over the name of the original sender of any message deemed “mischievous”.

The recent outrage over coordinating rallies and censorship has irked public figures like former Twitter India boss Raheel Khursheed, who believes the government has its priorities backwards in the middle of a crisis.

Mr Khursheed said the government shouldn’t be preoccupied with controlling public discourse as history unfolds before their eyes, calling for increased support for hospitals at capacity.

“In a pandemic the Indian government should be concerning itself with diffusing the situation rather than diffusing the news of the situation,” he told BBC Newsnight this week.

“If there are people lining up outside crematoriums waiting for their turns for over 48 to 72 hours, what you should be busy figuring out is how to diffuse that situation.

“What you should be basically figuring out is how to get oxygen to hospitals.”

Huge earthquake caps off India’s month from hell

It really feels like we’re witnessing a particularly cruel episode of Black Mirror at this point.

Just as everyone thought April couldn’t get worse for India, a massive 6.2 magnitude earthquake tore through the Assam region of the country on Wednesday. Shocking footage of the earthquake’s destruction has been shared on social media by witnesses, with a locals describing it as one of the strongest they’ve experienced.

“This earthquake was the biggest I can remember, there was first a big jolt and then a smaller one,” a police official in the town told Reuters.

India’s National Disaster Management Agency is in the process of assessing damage and casualties. There have been no immediate reports of deaths.

“Our entire multi-storeyed apartment has witnessed massive damage with roofs and walls caving in,” Subham Hazarika, a businessman who lives in an up-market apartment in Guwahati, told Reuters.

“Luckily no one got injured.”
 

If you’re wondering how you can do your part to help India, consider checking out some of the best charities working on the ground in our article here.