Govt, people became complacent after first wave: Mohan Bhagwat

As the country continues to fight against the Covid pandemic with over three lakh cases being reported everyday, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday accused the government and people of becoming complacent after the first wave.

“We are facing this situation because all of us – general public, Government and administration – became complacent after the first wave. Doctors were indicating but we became complacent. That’s why we’re facing this problem. Now there are talks of the third wave but we don’t have to fear but prepare ourselves,” said Bhagwat at a lecture series ‘Positivity Unlimited’.

Calling the pandemic a “challenge for humanity”, Bhagwat said India has to set an example for the world. “This (COVID-19 pandemic) is a challenge before humanity and India has to set an example. We have to work as a team, without discussing merits and demerits. We can do it later. We can overcome this challenge by working as a team and speeding up our work,” he added.

Bhagwat said the country should stay united and work as a team in these testing times, instead of pointing fingers at each other. Asking people to “stay positive” and take precautions, the RSS chief also warned leaders to avoid making “irrational statements” in current circumstances.

“We have to stay positive and take precautions to keep ourselves COVID negative in the present situation,” he said.

The RSS chief said that this is not an appropriate time to point fingers and all should avoid making irrational remarks.

Citing England’s situation in World War II when everything seemed going against it, Bhagwat said a quote was written on the then prime minister Winston Churchill’s desk which read, “There is no pessimism in this office. We are not interested in the possibilities of defeat. They don’t exist”.

Similarly, he said, in this situation “we can’t give up on courage. We need to also have steely resolve.”

Meanwhile, India recorded 3,26,098 COVID-19 cases that took the tally to 2,43,72,907, while 3,890 new fatalities pushed the death toll to 2,66,207, according to Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday.

The active cases have reduced to 36,73,802 and comprise 15.07 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 83.83 percent, it stated.

(With PTI inputs)