“The way Uttar Pradesh handled the second wave of COVID-19 and checked the spread of infection was unprecedented,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi applauding the efforts of the BJP-ruled state of Uttar Pradesh during the pandemic in Varanasi on Thursday.

He also emphasised that Uttar Pradesh now has the highest testing and vaccination in the country.

However, the claims of the PM were juxtaposed in the ground reporting carried out by ScoopWhoop Unscripted. 

1. The second wave of Covid-19 has wreaked havoc in rural India. The primary healthcare centres in these regions are nowhere near operational, despite the communities reporting a significant number of fatalities. 

2. Coronavirus is already sweeping across rural India, with photos of corpses floating in rivers and buried on the banks of the Ganga reflecting the intensity of the situation. In this report, the villagers not only address the deaths around them, but also how they feel about the government’s incompetence.

3. During the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, almost 700 teachers were lost their lives while on job. Did we notice the loopholes in government administration that placed the teachers’ lives at risk?

Did the UP administration receive an applause they deserved or was it just an attempt by the PM to whitewash the state’s mismanagement? Let us know what you think.