Rahul Gandhi releases Congress White Paper on COVID-19; asks government to prepare for third wave

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today released a White Paper prepared by its research wing headed by Rajeev Gowda on COVID-19 mismanagement. Releasing the report, Rahul Gandhi said that the purpose of this white paper is not to point a finger at the government but to help the nation prepare for the third wave that is going to come. However, he did not elaborate on whether the Congress party will present this document to the government or not.

The former Congress president said that the White Paper shows that the management of the first and second wave was disastrous. The Wayanad MP said that 90 per cent of people who have died due to the pandemic could have been saved. “The biggest reason for this was the lack of oxygen at the time while there was no shortage of oxygen in the country. PM’s tears did not save the lives of people but oxygen could have,” said Rahul Gandhi.

He said that the White Paper is a blueprint on how to react to the third wave. “It is our intention to provide the government with information and insights on what went wrong,” said Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi reiterated that many more waves may come after the third wave. “It is pretty clear that the third wave is coming and I would even go so far as to say that you might even have waves after the third wave because this virus is continuously mutating and changing form,” he said.

The Congress leader said that it’s important that the government prepares itself for what is coming next. The government must develop the required infrastructure which was not there in the first and second wave.

While he lauded the record vaccines administered yesterday, he said that the government will have to make this process work not just for one day but every day until the whole population is vaccinated.

“The central pillar of fighting Covid is vaccination. It is very important that we aggressively do vaccinations and cross this bridge of 100 per cent vaccination as soon as possible because that is the only protection,” said Rahul Gandhi.

He urged the government to have oxygen support and COVID-19 medicines ready for the third wave. Rahul Gandhi urged the government to treat all states equally for COVID-19 vaccinations, asserting that there should be no bias.