COVID-19: 'Instead of improving health infrastructure, we were lighting lamps and clapping', Nirmala Sitharaman's husband hits out at Centre

Amidst the devastating second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, India reported 3.52 lakh fresh coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. This is the highest single-day spike registered since the onset of the pandemic.

A total of 3,52,991 new COVID-19 cases, 2,812 related deaths and 2,19,272 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases to 28,13,658, as per the health ministry update on Monday morning.

Opposition groups slammed Modi government's failure to fight the Corona crisis. After this, now Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's husband and Indian political economist Parakala Prabhakar has also targeted the government.

Instead of helping the underprivileged in the Corona crisis, the government was only busy with headline management and self-discipline, Prabhakar said in a program on his YouTube channel.

The government is trying to avoid answering difficult questions. The government seems to be in no mood to entertain any questions on our preparedness. The uncivil and stunningly ill-tempered response by the union health minister to a set of responsible and constructive suggestions by former PM Dr Manmohan Singh reveals that the government is out of its depth. It prefers whataboutery and pulling political punches to putting its head down and going on with the serious business of containing the virus. 

Prabhakar was also in the spotlight last year. At the time, he had criticized the government's economic policies through an article.

Lockdown is not the answer to the problem Lockdown is not the solution to the corona crisis, vaccination is the solution to prevent corona infection. The lockdown time should have been used to increase health facilities.

Instead of concentrating on improving hospital infrastructure and strengthening the national resolve, it spent national energies on token gestures like lighting lamps and clapping. Instead of helping the underprivileged through financial packages, the government was only engaged in headline management. Migrant workers suffered greatly. This shows the cruelty of the government. In such harsh words, Prabhakar has slammed the Modi government.