Bengaluru: Ramachandra Guha flays BJP MP for giving communal twist to 'bed scam'

Bengaluru: Taking strong exception to the communal twist given by the BJP leaders while exposing the alleged irregularities of the BBMP in bed allotment to the Covid patients, renowned historian and writer Ramachandra Guha and environmentalist Leo Saldanha along with prominent citizens of Bengaluru demanded 'course correction'.

Guha wondered if four BJP leaders were acting on the orders of their party. He stated that CM Yediyurappa, and senior leaders like former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and former CM Siddaramaiah should look into the matter seriously to stop 'polarisation'.

"The State could not afford violence and division at such a juncture amid the ongoing second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

All our attention should be in containing the (pandemic-related) crisis, alleviating the suffering, making hospital beds available, ensuring adequate supply of oxygen and other resources, and showing proper concern and compassion for all staff including doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, supervisory staff and others involved," Guha added.

Leo F Saldanha, co-ordinator of the Environment Support Group, said that the State's COVID response strategy should be decentralized.

"This will enable people's access to oxygen, physicians, medical care, and vaccination within the ward or panchayat. The entire mechanism should be governed transparently and with accountability," he noted.