The Congress on Wednesday demanded the resignation of Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath, accusing the BJP-ruled States of being “insensitive” to infant deaths in government hospitals.
The party also demanded that an FIR be filed against Mr. Das and the Jharkhand Health Minister for nearly 300 infant deaths in the State in the past four months. “These cannot be called infant deaths, but plain murder. Is this the New India PM Narendra Modi is talking about...,” asked R.P.N. Singh, Congress in charge of Jharkhand.
At a press conference here, the Congress released data from Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Even after the Gorakhpur tragedy focussed attention on infant deaths in government hospitals, the State governments had done little to stop them, it said.
According to the Congress, 61 deaths occured at Gorakhpur in the past 72 hours and 200 children died in the BRD Medical College Hospital in the past one month, including the 64 who died because of disruptions in oxygen supply.
Mr. Singh said there was a large number of deaths at MGM and RIMS, the biggest governments hospitals in Jharkhand. In Rajasthan, the party said, 236 children had died in government hospitals since January.
Raj Babbar, who heads the Congress in U.P., accused Mr. Adityanath of having made a “highly insensitive comment” after the infant deaths.