If one reckoned that reports of political violence and slaughtering of BJP unit workers in West Bengal were underreported, one should take a good, hard look at the Covid-19 case numbers in the state. With only 60,000 tests being conducted daily on an average and a positivity rate in excess of 30 per cent, it is miracle that Bengal is only touching 20,000+ cases. With a much higher population density than Delhi, the situation in Bengal with a 30 per cent positivity rate, should have been worse.
China, the epicentre of the virus is said to have massively downplayed the severity of the virus by underreporting the cases and it appears that Mamata has taken a cue out of Xi Jinping’s book of keeping things under wrap. Otherwise, there is no reason as to why there is little to no coverage of the abysmal condition of Bengal in the national media.
The same media, which is incessantly hounding Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. It is imperative to note that UP has been conducting over 2 lakh tests of Covid daily, which goes significantly above on a good day and has been administering vaccines with a much greater pace, coming third on the list behind Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
While TMC quiz masters/leaders might still find a way to pin their colossal failure on BJP, just the way they dubbed the lynching’s of BJP workers as suicides, one cannot help but draw similarities between the national capital and Bengal, in terms of the positivity rate.
When the positivity rate in Delhi was hovering around the 25 per cent mark, people were falling like flies and hospitals were filled to the brim. While the capital city’s health resources were tested to the hilt, one can imagine what would have happened to the dilapidated health infrastructure of West Bengal, which Mamata has made no effort to revive in the last two terms as the state CM.
As reported by TFI, it was been Mamata’s modus operandi since the first wave of the pandemic to underreport the cases and simultaneously quash the voices that question her inept handling. Last year, a doctor named Dr Indranil Khan highlighted the poor quality of personal protective equipment’s (PPE’s) being made available to the health care workers of Bengal.
Read More: Mamata Banerjee goes full Xi Jinping, puts whistleblower doctor in detention
“Welcome to India’s #RainCoatDoctors fighting Covid-19 in West Bengal govt hospitals. Asked to wear #raincoats & substandard #masks instead of #PPE, these are frontline medical workers fighting #Coronavirus in WB.” he had tweeted.
Welcome to India’s #RainCoatDoctors fighting #Covid19 in West Bengal govt hospitals.
Asked to wear #raincoats & substandard #masks instead of #PPE, these are frontline medical workers fighting #Coronavirus in WB. #coronawarriors #COVID2019india pic.twitter.com/ky6btfwbAL
— Dr.Indranil Khan (Modi ka Parivar) (@IndranilKhan) March 28, 2020
Subsequently, Dr Khan was nabbed by the Maheshtala police and detained illegally overnight at the Zinzira Bazar Investigation Centre. His mobile phone was seized too. According to news reports, the doctor was released at 2 pm the next day, only after he praised the Mamata government’s efforts to combat the raging pandemic. He was allegedly let go only after he put out the following tweet.
The Govt of WB is working hard to ensure safety of frontline healthcare workers & it is very important that all of us cooperate with the govt in greater interest of public health. I apologise in case my previous post has unintentionally created misconceptions among followers.
— Dr.Indranil Khan (Modi ka Parivar) (@IndranilKhan) March 30, 2020
Reported by TFI, in May last year, Calcutta News, a TV news channel that had been critical of the Mamata government for their brazen coverup of the actual Covid-19 numbers in the state, was supposedly taken off-air on local cable platforms, at the behest of dictator Mamata who could not hear the criticism. Reportedly, cable networks like Siti Cable, DEN, WishNet, DDCTN and CCTN had blocked the said news channel. Suggesting that this was a direct result of Mamata Banerjee’s fascistic tendencies
Want to know what dictatorship is?
Calcutta News did shows criticising Mamata, now cable operators hv stopped telecast of the channel.
Situation of Freedom of Speech in Didi's Bengal. pic.twitter.com/WIUFofaLgn
— Ankur Singh (Modi Ka Parivar) (@iAnkurSingh) May 20, 2020
Mamata’s TMC needs to pull up its socks and should try to be more forthcoming in the reporting of cases. The vaccination drive can only be successful if the centre knows the real estimate of cases of Covid-19. Without letting the centre know of the reality, Mamata might be able to save her nose for now, but in the long run, the people of West Bengal will suffer and this invisible enemy doesn’t differentiate between people of different political ideologies. It comes all the same for everyone.
