New Delhi, May 10 (IANS): Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday took a dig at the opposition for ‘doing politics over the Covid-19 crisis when the ‘Centre is adopting all possible measures to safeguard the lives of the people.
"The Centre took a multi-dimensional approach for safeguarding the lives of citizens. While the Modi govt was making diligent efforts to control Covid, opposition leaders were continuing with politics as usual," Shah tweeted.
The Home Minister made the remarks in a tweet on Union Minister Prakash Javadekar's article published in a daily with the title "Disinformation Crisis", saying: "Do read Prakash Javadekar ji's article".
In the article, Javadekar mentioned how the Covid situation across the country had improved considerably in early January and the number of daily new cases was declining continuously.
However, he said, Kerala had started witnessing a surge in infections and almost one-third of the new daily cases were being reported from there.
On January 6, the minister mentioned in the article, the Union Health Secretary had written to the Kerala government, urging it to take immediate steps.
"The very next day, a high-level Central team was sent to the state to support its efforts. This was one among many instances over the last year -- especially in the past few months -- that highlights the Central government's rigorous monitoring efforts and swift response to the Covid surge across India.
"I recall this instance because the myth is being circulated that the Central government dropped the ball on Covid management after the first wave and left it entirely to the states for the last few months," Javadekar wrote.
Noting that "nothing is further from the truth", the minister said despite public health being a state subject, the Central government has been proactive in Covid management as a pandemic requires national-level coordination and substantial resources.
"It continues to lead from the front and provide considerable support and guidance to the states. Since February 2020, the Union Health Ministry has been monitoring case trends, evaluating states' preparedness, providing technical expertise, and overseeing the formulation of state and district-level response strategies," he wrote.