Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath on Friday claimed that over one lakh people have died in the State due to COVID-19 in March-April this year as per the figures provided by the cremation grounds and graveyards, and accused the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP government of hiding the real fatality count.
The State government, however, termed his claim as “false and misleading”.
Addressing a virtual press conference, Mr. Nath said, “We have collected figures from cremation ground and graveyards in March and April this year, and came to the conclusion that 1,27,503 bodies arrived there for the last rites and 80% (1,02,002) of these deaths were caused due to COVID-19.” The government is misleading people on the issue. It asks people to bring certificates from competent authorities to prove that they died of COVID-19, he said.
Responding to his claim, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra asserted that what Mr. Nath said was “false and misleading”, and challenged him to give evidence about it.
Mr. Mishra said that if Mr. Nath fails to give evidence then he should resign from his party post, and added that he would step down from his position as a Minister if the allegations turn out to be true.
The Minister also urged the Madhya Pradesh Governor to act against Mr. Nath for “spreading falsehood and for indulging in anti-national activities by defaming the country at the international level on the issue”.