Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre for failing to handle coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and said that Pakistan has done better than India in controlling the outbreak of the deadly disease.
The senior Congress leader made the controversial remarks while speaking at Lahore Literature Festival. In his virtual address, Tharoor said, “The Indian government is not doing well and the people realize this. Rahul Gandhi mentioned as early as February that COVID-19 must be taken seriously otherwise India will face economic catastrophe so he should get credit for it.”
Tharoor also accused the Modi government of defaming Tablighi Jamaat in order to justify bigotry and discrimination against the Muslims.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases in India nears 75 lakh on Sunday (October 17) with 61,871 new infections reported in last 24 hours. As per the Ministry of Health data, the total coronavirus tally in the country stands at 74,94,551. The number of cases saw a dip 11,776 since Saturday.
Out of the total cases, 7,83,311 are active cases and 65,97,210 are cured/discharged/migrated cases. The active cases of coronavirus infection in the country comprise 10.45 per cent of the total case. The recovery rate in India stands at 88.03 per cent while the fatality rate is at 1.52 per cent.
The coronavirus death toll climbed to 1,14,031with the virus claiming 1,033 lives in a span of 24 hours as per Ministry of Health data. The number of active cases of coronavirus infection remained below 8 lakh for the second consecutive day.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5. It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.
