Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday, 24 November, demanded that the central government provide the correct figures on COVID-19 deaths, and should also provide compensation to the kin of the dead.
"The Congress party has two demands — correct figures of those who died due to COVID be given and Rs four lakh compensation be given to the families who lost their loved ones to COVID. The government has to remove the suffering of the people. Compensation should be provided. #4LakhDenaHoga," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
The kin of those Indian citizens who have succumbed to COVID-19 will receive Rs 50,000 ex gratia compensation from the state governments, the Union government had told the Supreme Court on 22 September.
'You Were Not There': Gandhi Slams Gujarat Govt Over COVID Mismanagement
In the 4.5 minutes-long video shared by Gandhi along with the tweet, a part of Congress Nyay campaign, Gandhi called out the much-touted Gujarat model of COVID management for its inadequacy.
"There was a lot of praise of the Gujarat model. All the families that we talked to, said that they couldn't get hospitals, oxygen, or ventilators," Gandhi said in the video.
"So when you had to help them in the hospital, you were not there. And when somebody died in their families, and when they lost Rs 10-15 lakh in hospital, when they needed compensation, you were still not there. What type of government is this?" he questioned.
Gandhi maintained that while the Gujarat government has claimed that 10,000 people died due to COVID in the state, the truth is that three lakh people have died due to the viral disease.
The Congress leader further indicated that Rs 50,000 was not sufficient compensation.
"The prime minister has Rs 8,500 crore for buying a new plane. But the government has no money for paying compensation to those in Gujarat who lost their family members due to COVID?" he said.
"The Congress party will do whatever it can to ensure a Rs 4 lakh compensation for all those families who lost their kin due to COVID. We will pressurise the government to do this at any cost," Gandhi said in the video.
Gujarat is slated to go to polls in December next year.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)