'Admission of his failure': Opposition slams PM Modi's address

Opposition on Tuesday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation as an “admission of his failure” to tackle the Covid-19 situation.

“The sum and substance of the pearls of wisdom at 8:45 pm — ‘it is beyond my control, passengers should protect their own lives,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said.

“The subtext of Prime Minister’s speech. Guys, you are kind of on your own. If you are able to finally make it to the other side we will definitely meet again in some Utsav or Mahatsov. Until then all the best. May God be with you,” former union minister Manish Tewari said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the prime minister’s address read as an admission that the Covid Wave-1 centralised response, including national lockdown, did not work. Wave-2 response is now a state problem further decentralised to mohalla committees.

Read | PM Modi urges state govts to use lockdown as last resort to contain Covid-19

“What a difference a year makes,” Abdullah said.

RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary said the Prime Minister’s speech was about defending his government’s non-performance, passing the buck to states on migrant issues, social organisations for helping citizens and denying the problem rather than talking about any solutions.

“I was hoping that PM in his address would announce free vaccine for every citizen. PM didn't mention anything on how much the vaccine production capacity will be boosted and on the number of vaccine doses to be given to states after that,” Chhattisgarh Health Minister TS Singh Deo said.