When Yogi Adityanath assumed the reigns of Uttar Pradesh, he was vilified, hounded and written off. It is safe to say that in a span of just three years, Yogi has completely transformed Uttar Pradesh and the pandemic has yet again showed his administrative skills has brilliantly contained the spread of the virus and has also played a key role in making sure that the migrants return to their respective hometowns in Uttar Pradesh.
While the mainstream media in the country has understandably not covered the ‘UP Model’, Yogi’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. It seems that Yogi’s effective handling of the virus has earned him fans in Pakistan, as ‘Dawn’ editor Fahd Husain praised the state’s battle to contain the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
Husain who is a senior journalist and the Resident editor of leading Pakistani media publication ‘Dawn’ took to Twitter to compare how Pakistan and Uttar Pradesh have tackled the Wuhan coronavirus. He showed how both Pakistan and UP have the same demographics in terms of population and literacy and also made an important point that Pakistan has lesser density/km and higher GDP/capita. Despite this, UP enforced a strict lockdown and has much lesser death rate than Pakistan.
In fact, UP’s population is 225 million compared to Pakistan’s 208 million with density/km being 932 and 275 respectively, which only reveals the herculean challenge that the state is facing.
Look at this graph carefully. It compares death rate of Pakistan and Indian state of UP. Both have roughly same population profile & literacy. Pakistan has lesser density/km and higher GDP/capita. UP was strict with lockdown. We were not. See diff in death rate #COVIDー19
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/so8SgEtjCw— Fahd Husain (@Fahdhusain) June 7, 2020
While Yogi Adityanath has got his messaging right and is going out all guns blazing in protecting his population, from enforcing a strict lockdown, to bringing back migrants from across the country, Yogi has done it all.
Pakistan’s former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has also tested positive for the virus as the country has recorded over 100,000 cases of the virus with over 2,000 deaths. The numbers are likely to be much higher as Pakistan isn’t testing enough with patients literally being shifted to POJK where there are no healthcare facilities to even conduct a blood test, let alone an ICU bed. UP has recorded 9,733 cases of the virus with 257 people succumbing to the virus.
While Yogi is going out all guns blazing, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has been going door-to-door with a begging bowl seeking loans and debt-relief worth millions of dollars from the likes of IMF and World Bank. Even the lockdown was a sham in the country as Khan’s government willingly surrendered to the radicals and places of worship saw huge congregations despite the ‘lockdown’. Imran Khan has been constantly whining and pleading for debt-relief.
He has been successful in garnering aid worth millions of dollars, but has chosen to not spend in the country’s battle against the pandemic. The cash-strapped Pakistan government decided to spend $42 million in March for the formation of digital media wing to ‘Defend government’.
It has also used the funds which it got to fight the pandemic, to give a 20% hike to its military generals amidst the pandemic. It also used 10 billion Pakistani rupees to pay off its electricity bills. The IMF has taken cognisance of the chain of events and has now asked the Imran Khan government to freeze all non-development expenditure.
It seems that Yogi Adityanath alone is enough to take on Imran Khan who is not worth the time of the Union government anymore.