With remarks ranging from flippant and insensitive to downright dangerous, BJP leaders have led the pack on 'what not to say in the middle of a pandemic'.
Here's Seraj Ali's video report inspired by Jahnavi Sen's article for The Wire.
It has been 414 days since the World Health Organisation (WHO) first declared COVID-19 infections to be a pandemic and 389 days since Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured the country that "21 days" of lockdown was all that was needed to "win the war" against the coronavirus. In the interim, India has seen the number of active COVID-19 cases rise, then fall and now quickly rise again, as a severe second wave of infections spreads across the country.
India today has 1.93 million active COVID-19 cases, which is nearly double its active case load at the time of the first wave last year.
Time may have passed, but our leaders' understanding of how this virus spreads and what measures need to be taken to curb it does not seem to be benefitting from science, the experiences before them or even common sense. Making remarks ranging from flippant and insensitive to downright dangerous, Bharatiya Janata Party leaders have led the pack on 'what not to say in the middle of a pandemic'.
Here is a list of examples put together by The Wire of things BJP leaders have said over the last two months, but shouldn't have.