Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that 2021 would be remembered for India’s “strong fight” against Covid and claimed many economic indicators were now better compared with pre-pandemic times.
He made no mention of the abiding images of the bygone year — mass pyres and bodies floating in rivers or buried on riverbanks, a result of his government’s mismanagement of the pandemic — or the price rise tormenting households.
“The coronavirus posed challenges but could not stop India’s march,” the Prime Minister said, lauding the country’s achievements in the spheres of economy, health, defence, agriculture, infrastructure and the start-up ecosystem last year.
“Today, the country’s growth rate is more than 8 per cent. Record foreign investments have come and our forex reserves have reached record levels,” Modi said in what appeared a New Year address to the nation.
“The GST collection has broken all records. We have set new paradigms in exports, especially agriculture. The year 2021 will be remembered for the country’s majboot ladai (strong fight) against the coronavirus and for the reforms undertaken during this period.”
To some ears, the comments would have carried echoes of the ruling establishment’s claims of “defeating the coronavirus” early last year, encouraging complacency and huge gatherings like the Kumbh Mela just before the second Covid wave bared its fangs.
Modi’s boasts on Saturday came against the backdrop of a fresh surge in Covid infections, triggered by the highly infectious omicron mutant.
Just as he had spent weeks addressing huge poll rallies in Bengal as the second Covid wave ambushed the country, Modi has been campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and other poll-bound states, with tens of thousands being ferried to his meetings ignoring pandemic wisdom.
At a time the BJP has been accused of running a polarising Assembly poll campaign, Modi on Saturday listed among his government’s achievements the construction and beautification of Hindu religious centres such as the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi, the Kedarnath shrine and the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The Prime Minister, delivering a virtual address after releasing the 10th instalment under a dole scheme for small and marginal farmer, credited India’s achievements on his watch to its people’s “collective strength and effort”.
“In 2021, we Indians have shown the world that when we make a resolve, even big goals turn small,” he said.
“Who could have imagined that in a short span of time, a big and diverse country like India would be able to administer over 145 crore vaccine doses? Who could have imagined that India would administer 2.5 crore jabs in a single day?”
The feat of 2.5 crore shots was achieved on Modi’s birthday, September 17, but was preceded and followed by days of much fewer jabs, prompting critics to ask whether vaccination should be a “process” or an artificial “peak on a birthday”.
A score of 145 crore doses marks just about 77 per cent of the jabs needed to fully vaccinate India’s estimated adult population of 94.4 crore — which the government had pledged to achieve by December 31, 2021.
While some scientists say that signs of the onset of a third wave of the pandemic are already visible in the country, Modi has rallies scheduled in Meerut on Sunday, in Manipur and Tripura on Tuesday and in Punjab on Wednesday.
Barring Tripura, all the other states will go to the polls early this year.
