‘Centre lied in Parliament that none died due to oxygen shortage in 2nd wave’

Ranchi: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) on Wednesday joined the ranks of opposition parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party, Trinamool Congress and Congress and claimed that the Centre lied to Parliament about the deaths which occurred due to shortage of oxygen during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Thousands of people died due to shortages of oxygen. The Supreme Court made stern remarks against the Centre’s poor oxygen supply management in New Delhi. And yet, the Centre lied in Parliament and falsely put the onus on the state governments,” JMM general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said.
Bhattacharya said that during the second wave of the pandemic, the Centre exercised absolute control over the distribution of liquid medical oxygen consignments, ventilators, oxygen concentrators and drugs which were being used to treat hospitalized Covid-19 patients. “The Centre only issued advisories to the state governments and did not bother to take up consultations,” Bhattacharya said.
JMM also blamed the BJP for the surge in Covid-19 cases and the fatalities. “Such was the political ambition of the BJP that the Prime Minister and Union home minister were addressing poll rallies in West Bengal and Assam while the deadly virus was raging across the nation,” Bhattacharya added.
The JMM also kept its attack on the BJP over snooping row. “We are learning that in 2017, there was a meeting between senior leaders of the BJP’s national election management committee and representatives of an Israeli company in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. In the meeting, ways to hack the EVM machines were discussed. We will release more information on it as and when we get it,” Bhattacharya said. Bhattacharya added that the country’s national security may have been compromised. “There is a possibility that the phones of defence minister, the chief of defence staff, the generals of the Indian Army may have been spied on. Who will look into this?” he said.
Notably, the state unit of the Congress will stage a Raj Bhawan march on Thursday to protest the snooping through Israeli spyware Pegasus. The march will be led by state Congress chief Rameshwar Oraon.