Mamata Banerjee described the Prime minister’ meeting with chief ministers on the Covid situation on Thursday as “a super flop” and said that they felt “humiliated” and “insulted” for not being allowed to speak.

Addressing an impromptu news conference at the state administrative headquarters here, Mamata began her statement with “we the chief ministers”, appearing to be speaking on behalf of the leaders of the six non-BJP ruled states _ Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand and Kerala _ who were present at the online interaction with the Prime minister.

The other chief ministers were from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Puducherry.

“We CMs are feeling humiliated and insulted. We are astonished to see that in a federal structure, chief ministers were made to sit like puppets despite being invited,” she said, describing the meeting as “casual” and “a super-flop.”

Other chief ministers, like the outspoken Bhupesh Baghel of Chhattisgarh or Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala, had not even issued a tweet after the meeting with the Prime Minister.

“They are trying to bulldoze the federal structure. If he did not want chief ministers to speak, then why were they invited? Maharashtra, Kerala CMs were invited but not allowed to speak. Are we bonded labour? They are forgetting constitutional provisions,” she said.

Mamata offered her own reasons why Modi was the only one who spoke at the meeting. “The PM is feeling so insecure that he did not want to listen to a chief minister. What is he so scared about?” she asked.

The Centre had invited chief ministers of the 10 states, along with some district magistrates. Bengal did not allow district magistrates to participate, although the chief secretary and the health secretary attended the meeting.

‘Couldn’t understand a word of his speech’

“The Covid pandemic is on. We were ready with paperwork for demands from our respective states. We were not allowed to speak even for a second. He (PM) spoke with some DMs from BJP-ruled states. Ki je bhashan dilen setao bujhlam na (Couldn’t understand a word of his speech,” Mamata said.

Among the issues that went undiscussed at Thursday’s meeting were the crucial question of a vaccine shortage and the rising number of mucormycosis, or black fungus, cases among Covid patients. The chief minister has confirmed four such cases in Bengal.

“They never asked about vaccines. They never asked about medicines. They never asked about oxygen. They never asked about remdesivir, which is unavailable in the market. They never asked about black fungus, the new disease,” Mamata said.

“Is there a study or research on the gap between two doses? There is a vaccine shortage therefore they are increasing the gap,” she added.

Most of the questions that Mamata raised have been in the public domain for quite some time now and are being discussed on social media.

‘Why are so many deaths happening?’

The chief minister claimed that Modi, while addressing the meeting, had said that the number of cases of coronavirus was coming down in the country. “He says corona has reduced? Why so many deaths happening? Cases went up because of this negligence,” Mamata said.

“They sent a Central team to Bengal to assess post-poll violence. Why didn’t they send Central teams to UP? Dead bodies are being dumped in the Ganga. Kahaan kahaan bhaaske chala gaya (The bodies have floated who knows where),” Mamata said.

Addressing the chief ministers and district magistrates at the meeting, Modi said the strategy to deal with Covid-19 should be dynamic, innovative and constantly upgraded as the virus is invisible and often mutates.

Describing the virus as "dhoort" (sly) and "bahurupia" (shapeshifter) in Hindi, Modi also underlined concerns expressed in various quarters about the threats it poses to the youth and children. He asked them to keep a track on it and record the spread of infection and its seriousness among them in their districts.

Modi also stressed on the need to prevent vaccine wastage, saying every dose wasted meant that someone was being denied the protection shield against the virus.

While pandemic has been raging, international media has raised several questions about Modi’s role, especially in the second wave of infections, which has claimed the lives of 283,248 people in the country so far, as per official records. But on-ground evidence at crematoria, cemeteries and riverbanks indicate the toll could be way higher.

Dubious record

On May 19, India achieved the dubious record of registering the most number of deaths in 24 hours (4,529) surpassing the United States, which had recorded 4,475 deaths on a single day in January 12.

While volunteers from political parties like the Congress’s youth wing and CPM in Bengal have been working on helping people find oxygen cylinders, hospital beds and medicines, BJP ministers, MPs and its supporters have been busy flaunting dubious reports to claim the Modi government’s effective management of the pandemic.

Union health minister Harshvardhan attempted to counter a study in the prestigious Lancet journal with a blog. These efforts by members of the government and its agencies have been described as an attempt to preserve Modi’s image, which has taken a severe beating internationally.

Modi leads in ‘who did worst?’ poll

In a poll conducted on Twitter by the US based news website, The Conversation, on “Who did worst?” vis-à-vis the management of the pandemic, Modi outvoted other contenders, getting 90 per cent of the 75,450 votes, leaving far behind the likes of former US President Donald Trump, Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.