Soumya Ranjan Stirs Up A Hornets’ Nest, Targets Odisha CM Over ‘Fudging’ Of COVID Deaths

Bhubaneswar: After triggering a row over the posters of the Prime Minister and Chief Minister at the vaccination centres, senior BJD leader and Khandapada MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik has again stirred up a hornets’ nest by alleging under-reporting of COVID deaths in Odisha.

In a front page editorial of Sambad on Thursday, Soumya Ranjan said the state government with an urge to become the leading state in COVID management in the country has deliberately underreported COVID deaths in the state.

Targeting the Chief Minister, he drew parallels of Odisha’s COVID management with a meritorious student who tops in his class and yet resorts to malpractice.

“The same mentality is also seen in a political party. Our Chief Minister Naveen babu has received accolades from the Centre and the United Nations for his deft handling of natural calamities like drought, flood and cyclones. Apart from this, he has been widely praised for the smart management of COVID-19. While the attitude to prevail over these stiff challenges is commendable, yet at times and under immense pressure to stay in the competition, certain activities are being done casting a blot akin to that on a moon. It seems the strategy adopted by Naveen babu for COVID-19 has suffered a similar fate,” wrote Soumya Ranjan, who is Editor of the leading Odia daily.

He further said as the Centre and the state governments are now in an awkward position over the alleged fudging of COVID deaths, the Supreme Court has directed the governments to register the actual number of deaths. Following the apex court directive, the Orissa High Court has also come up with the same ruling in response to a PIL.

“The state government might have underreported the COVID deaths during the first wave to allay the apprehension of the people and boost their self-confidence. However, going by the population of Odisha and considering the ratio between the population and the number of deaths, the death rate in the state during the first and second waves will be much less than the national average. The state government would have nothing to lose if it reveals the actual number of deaths. But by hiding the number of deaths, it has tarnished the modesty of the administration,” he added.

The case fatality touched 1% in June with 1272 patients succumbing to the virus against the average of 0.37 per cent in the second wave. Odisha has so far seen 4063 COVID deaths, according to official estimates.

Expressing doubt whether the Chief Minister is aware of the present scenario, he maintained that Naveen prefers to work on the advice of a coterie comprising some bureaucrats and party leaders. “This could be a strategy to keep the party workers away from him and enable these bureaucrats to hide the facts,” he noted.

“But this cannot go a long way and one day the truth will come out. Before it is too late, the Chief Minister should come up with a White Paper revealing the actual number of deaths without further delay to display his guts and the people of Odisha will love him more than they before,” he added.

Welcoming the editorial of the BJD leader, BJP state general secretary Prithiviraj Harichandan said his party had also raked up the same issue. “By hiding the number of actual deaths, the families who have lost their members will be deprived of the financial assistance as announced by the Centre. The state government should not do injustice to these bereaved families,” he added.

Government Chief Whip Pramila Mallick said the state government has not underreported the COVID deaths. There is no anomaly in the death count,” she maintained.

Earlier, Soumya Ranjan had ruffled some feathers by stating that posters at COVID vaccination centres should carry photos of no political leaders but of Lord Jagannath, even as the BJP and the ruling BJD were trying to gain political mileage by putting photos of the Prime Minister and the CM on the posters.

“It is not a matter of surprise that everyone including the Prime Minister is now busy in the propagation campaign. However, those who are in politics and willing to keep this poster politics at bay should make sincere efforts so that there will be no scope for anyone to politicize this issue. I think we can create a unique tradition by putting the photo of Lord Jagannath at the vaccination centres,” he had pointed out.