'Act of depravity': Congress slams govt over 'mismatch' in Covid death figures

New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday attacked the Centre over alleged mismatch between the official Covid-19 death toll and the figures reflected in the Civil Registration System data, saying it would be too much to expect this government to show regret for its "tone-deaf" actions but when history is written, it will be sure to record this "act of depravity".

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said more than five years ago, the world was ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It was clear - even in that moment -“ that India underwent devastation on a scale that we hadn't seen for more than a century," he said on X.

From the migrant crisis to the manufactured shortage of vaccines, from the mass deaths and oxygen shortages to the prime minister's insistence on campaigning in West Bengal rather than prioritising human lives -“ the cruellest and vilest impulses of the Modi government -were on display during the pandemic, Ramesh alleged.

"While we always knew that the Government had systematically underreported Covid-19 deaths, we now learn that there were an additional 20 lakh deaths reported across India in 2021 alone," he said.

Most of these can be attributed to the Covid-19 pandemic “ and this estimate of 20 lakh is nearly six times higher than the official Covid death tally of 3.3 lakh, Ramesh said and shared graphs citing the Civil Registration System data.

The prime minister's home state of Gujarat has achieved the dubious distinction of undercounting deaths on a staggering scale - 33 times more deaths were reported than acknowledged by the Gujarat Government, he claimed. "It would be too much to expect this government to show regret or remorse for its tone-deaf actions - but when history is written, it will be sure to record this act of depravity," Ramesh said.

Earlier this month, official sources had said India's cumulative excess mortality for 2020-2021 was 9.3 per cent higher than expected deaths, a figure which was lower than that of the US, Italy and Russia.

Sources pointed out that the number of deaths documented in the CRS has been increasing over time, even in the years preceding the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020.

They also said annual secular increase in deaths registered in CRS can be attributed to several reasons, including a larger population cohort, maturing reporting processes and increased awareness of the need for registration, leading to higher registration levels.