As India steers through the intense evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak unlike any other country in the world, an official from the Indian Medical Association has directly held Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for the emergence of the second wave of the pandemic as the severity and adversity posed by the pandemic has pushed the country to witness a grim challenge in containing the spread. 

India has been reporting over three lakh COVID-19 cases each day and has become the global epicentre of the second wave. The heartbreaking visuals from across the country had displayed that it has been witnessing a distressing situation from shortages of the hospital beds and oxygen supply to a flawed response from the government for the crisis. Amid such development, the vice-president of the Indian Medical Association has put out an open statement that Modi would hate to hear.

Dr Navjot Dahiya, who is the national vice-president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), has openly held the Prime Minister responsible for the rapid spread of the second wave and called Narendra Modi a 'super spreader', the term which is used to denote a person or an event that happens to be the root of the exponential rise of COVID-19 cases. According to reports, Dr Dahiya has said that the Prime Minister was addressing huge election rallies that were apparent violations of the COVID-19 protocols. 

The Prime Minister had held the election rallies while the medical fraternity was trying hard to make people understand the importance of adhering to the COVID-19 guidelines and protocols. During a campaign rally a few weeks ago in West Bengal, Modi had addressed a large crowd and while speaking at the rally, he said, "Today, in all directions I see huge crowds of people, have witnessed such a rally for the first time. Today, you have shown your power. The next step is more important - go and vote and take others too." 

Dr Dahiya said that the election rallies and Kumbh Mela in Haridwar had continued amid the exponential rise of the COVID-19 cases and he stated that the impact of COVID-19 spread is visible across the country with increased fatalities and long queues of ambulances outside hospitals. In a statement, Dahiya said, "The scarcity of medical oxygen has become the reason for the death of many patients in every part of the country against the fact that several objects for installing the oxygen are still pending with the Union Government for clearance, but no heed was given to such an important need by the Modi government."

He added that the Prime Minister, instead of making arrangements to fight Coronavirus, had preferred to organize a gathering of more than one lakh people in Gujarat to welcome the then US President Donald Trump when the pandemic broke out first in January 2020. The allegations against the Prime Minister, not from the common man, but from the vice-president of IMA have come as a shock to the Central government's campaign to shield the Prime Minister. 

Dr Dahiya's open statement has come when the Prime Minister and the Central government have been under public scrutiny and massive flak for displaying apathy over proactive responses towards curb the virus spread. The Prime Minister has been slammed for his rhetoric and his flawed administration when the nation is witnessing a peak of the COVID-19 cases. Several experts have also criticized the Central government for failing to address the crisis at the right time as several areas in the nation are searching for crematoriums.