July 20, 2021
Santanu Sen speaks on management of COVID-19 pandemic
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Good afternoon, Sir.
Before coming to the point on behalf of All India Trinamool Congress, let me assure you that till August 13, we are going to protest every single second of every working day against the biggest international scam involving billions of dollars, which is what Pegasus is. The software has been used to access the phones of, and thus act against, not only journalists, opponents and politicians, but also against our All India Trinamool Congress’ general secretary, and learned Member of Parliament Abhishek Bandyopadhyay. We are not going to spare a single second.
Now let me come to the point of COVID-19. Showing my homage to all the departed souls, who have left us because of COVID-19, I would like to quote John Wooden: “Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be”. The problem with our present government is that it is failing to change itself, and that’s why it is becoming fatal.
Sir, let us remember the first COVID-19 case. It was detected on January 30 in Kerala.
Once again I say that I will maintain the gesture of respect and address Narendra Modi ji, our learned prime minister as ‘Dada’, even though he used to address our chief minister as ‘Didi O Didi’ sarcastically.
Sir, on February 24 and 25, our learned prime minister was busy holding the ‘Namaste Trump’ programme. We know that the fate of both people turned out to be the same, unfortunately. He was busy doing horse-trading for the Madhya Pradesh government.
Later on, he took the whimsical decision on migrant labourers. The entire rural India got infected by COVID-19. When the question of testing came up, we saw this government purchase a testing kit from China, which was sold at a profit of 145 per cent, but which turned out to be faulty everywhere. Thousands of migrant labourers died on the road. The government even refused to pay their train fares.
Let us come to Bengal. Our chief minister’s efforts resulted in the state government not only paying their train fares but also providing them employment opportunities.
Sir, the scenario on COVID-19, a multiple-system disease, is not the same in every state of the country. But the federal structure of the country was not respected; through unilateral advisories, the states’ hands were tied. As a result, the state governments’ efforts were restricted. However, I would like to remind you that the concepts of ‘safe home’, maintaining physical distance by drawing circles on the road and of comorbidity studies were the brainchilds of none other than Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister-cum-health minister of Bengal.
Our learned prime minister said that like the War of Kurukshetra was won in 18 days, the battle against the coronavirus would be won in 21 days. But what happened? He had asked us to beat drums and light lamps, and we followed them.
Unfortunately, the government and the BJP leaders wanted to make our prime minister an international leader. So they declared that they had won the battle against COVID-19, and hence, there was no preparation to deal with the second wave. And so what did we see? People dying on the roads because of paucity of oxygen, even in this 21st century! Can you believe it?
Our chief minister offered a piece of land to build an oxygen plant, but our learned prime minister gave sanction for his beloved state Uttar Pradesh, where dead bodies were found floating in the rivers. This is most unfortunate.
Sir, everyone here is aware of the Kumbh Mela. Crores of people were infected because of COVID-19. But what happened during the elections? If they were really concerned, they would not have let the elections in Tamil Nadu, with 234 assembly seats, be over in one phase, yet let the elections in Bengal, which is the biggest threat to our learned prime minister, with 294 seats, be conducted in eight phases. What was the rate of infectivity in Bengal? Before the elections started, it was only 2.3 per cent and after the eighth phase of the elections, it became 33 per cent. Again, kudos to our chief minister that her efforts led to the infectivity rate coming down to 1.8 per cent, as of date.
Sir, we started the vaccination programme on January 16. Initially there was a lot of hesitancy because there was a lack of awareness among the people of the country. There was no awareness programme, no proper policy. It was very shameful for us being Indians, that Lancet, the oldest medical journal in the world, the WHO, the Supreme Court, several high courts, and even several countries like Brazil, Canada and the UK, categorically criticised the COVID-19 fighting policy of India. What can be more shameful for us, Sir?
Sir, we heard the prime minister talking a few days back about ’One Earth, One Health Policy’. Yet, only a few months back, he spoke about a ‘One Vaccine, Three Prices Policy’. Can you believe it? In India, we have faced ‘One Vaccine, One Price for Central Government, One Price for State Government, One Price for Private Sector’. The government has categorically opened up the floodgates of corruption. The vaccine-producing companies are not getting paid regularly, and the head of the world’s largest vaccine producer, in India, left the country even after he was made a Z category protectee by the Government of India.
Initially our learned prime minister and our Health Ministry said that the government is not going to take the responsibility of vaccinating those who are below 45. But why, Sir? Are they not voters? Are they not Indian citizens? Therefore, states decided to purchase vaccines. Our state, Bengal, offered to pay the price, but it was denied access to vaccines. They have centralised the process of vaccination.
What is happening? We have seen our government busy in the Central Vista project, spending Rs 20,000 crore. What about the Rs 35,000 crore that was the budgetary allocation for COVID-19 vaccination? What about the PM CARES Fund, which is not allowed to be audited by the CAG? The problem is, our prime minister is more in the mode of publicity-hunting. That’s why, on June 21, he started beating his own drum. Being in a self-congratulatory mode, he once again tried to play a one-day international instead of a Test match, and said that we have inoculated this number of people and crossed USA.
Unfortunately, if you compare the populations, you will see that whereas one-third of the population of USA has been fully vaccinated, which means both the doses have been administered, only 4.8 per cent of Indians have been fully vaccinated.
Sir, it’s not only Bengal, but Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Punjab and Delhi are all facing an acute crisis of vaccines. When the National Health Mission says that the highest rate of vaccination is in Bengal, when the National Health Mission says that vaccine wastage is least in Bengal, then why is there least allocation of vaccines for Bengal? Why is there always such a step-motherly attitude towards Bengal?
Data says that if we inoculate 10 million people per day, then we would be able to tackle the third wave. If we inoculate 3.2 million per day, then 45 per cent of the population will be inoculated till December and 60 per cent by the end of March 2022. The most unfortunate part of the story is that whereas India is the world’s largest vaccine-producing country, having exported six crore doses in two months, we are starving for vaccines.
Sir, let me remind you about the affidavit given by the government before the Supreme Court. What did it say? Shots numbering 186.6 crore are needed to vaccinate everyone above 18 years of age and that 135 crore will be available till December 2021. But what did our learned minister Prakash Javadekar say in the month of May in 2021? He said that between August and December, there will be availability of 260 crore shots of vaccines. One minister is saying something, and the affidavit given to the Supreme Court is saying another thing. Just imagine the real picture.
Our government is always in self-congratulatory mode. Some of its leaders are saying that corona is a virus that has got the right to live. Can you believe it? Some of them are saying that if we have Bhabiji Ki Papad, we will be rid of the coronavirus. Some of them are saying that if we drink cow’s urine or have cow dung, we will get rid of the coronavirus. That is the main problem. What are we seeing? Just to de-shoulder the main responsibility, our previous health minister was made a scapegoat. We have seen dead bodies floating in the rivers during the second wave, but are apprehensive that if our present health minister does not work properly, that day is not very far that we would be seeing dead bodies lying on the road. Just imagine the day when, because of extreme unpreparedness for the third wave, we could come across dead bodies on the roads.
I have three proposals for the government. Mass vaccination is the only solution, because we all know that the third wave might affect younger people, the children, since they are not yet vaccinated. The government should take a strong stand regarding the policy of mass vaccination, especially the availability of paediatric vaccines. It should be a must, and the federal structure must also be given importance. What is wrong with that? And if a lady knows better than you, what is so wrong about getting some good ideas from her? Why don’t you come to Bengal for a day? The infectivity rate came down from 33 per cent to 1.3 per cent within a span of one month in Bengal. What is wrong in learning from how it was done? My last proposal before the learned health minister is to give some thought to the COVID-19 warriors. Please build a COVID-19 memorial in a centrally-located place.
Thank you.
