New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh over the death of more than 30 tribal children due to various diseases in Balaghat district, claiming that the state government is India's most corrupt and incompetent.
Gandhi also slammed Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and said if he finds time after lighting lamps and holding celebrations, he must take a look at the ground reality in the state.
"In Balaghat, more than 30 tribal children have died amid illness, malnutrition and a lack of basic health facilities. The extent of the callousness is such that innocent lives kept slipping away, yet the response remained sluggish, and the government kept sleeping," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said in a post in Hindi on X.
"Chief Minister ji, if you've found time after lighting lamps and holding celebrations, take a look at the ground reality in the state," Gandhi said.
Lack of disease control, nutrition and clean water, along with a crumbling health system, is claiming the lives of children, he alleged.
Adulterated medicines and poisonous illegal liquor are devastating hundreds of families, Gandhi added.
"I am heading to Indore and I am continuously gathering feedback from students, youth and common people across the state. The horrific incidents coming to light are revealing that Madhya Pradesh's education system is today the most ruined in the entire country," he said.
Students, children, the poor, Dalits, tribals, backward classes or women – every section is being tormented and no one is happy, the Congress leader claimed.
"The Madhya Pradesh government is today India's most corrupt and most incompetent government – that is the truth," Gandhi said.
The Congress on Wednesday attacked the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh over the death of tribal children due to various diseases in Balaghat district and demanded the resignation of Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Rajendra Shukla.
Last week, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had sought a response from the state government over the deaths.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Vivek Rusia and Justice Pradeep Mittal issued notices to the Health Department, the Women and Child Development Department, Balaghat collector and others while hearing a PIL.
The petition alleged inadequate treatment and claimed that around 400 children were being treated at a hospital with a capacity of 50 beds.
It also alleged that yellow-coloured water was coming out of handpumps in the affected areas and that children and women had not received nutritious food on time for several months.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.