Health Minister defends PM’s radio silence on Twitter on Muzaffarpur

Following a backlash on social media, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday defended the Prime Minister’s radio silence on the death of an estimated 150 children in Muzaffarpur. The Prime Minister, he claimed in a tweet, was constantly monitoring the situation in Muzaffarpur.

Anger on social media was triggered by a tweet by Narendra Modi commiserating with the thumb injury sustained by Indian cricketer Shikhar Dhawan in England. Responding to Dhawan’s emotional message on Twitter after he was ruled out of the team because of the injury, the PM consoled him and wished him a speedy recovery.

The PM’s tweet triggered several angry reactions with people wondering why he failed to tweet even once to voice his concern at the situation in Muzaffarpur. If the PM could show his concern for a minor injury sustained by a cricketer, why is he so miserly with compassion for the dead children?

Even as speculation swirled that the strains in the relationship between BJP and JD(U) in Bihar and with Nitish Kumar opposing the Triple Talaq Bill in Parliament is responsible for the campaign in the media against the Bihar chief minister, tweets singled out the PM for his perceived insensitivity.

आपका आयुष्मान योजना का तो हवा निकल गया मोदी जी बाकी सब योजना की तरह!!

प्रधानमंत्री जी को छोटी से छोटी बातों का पता रहता है परन्तु बिहार में बच्चों की मौत से जो हाहाकार मचा हुआ है सायद उसकी जानकारी नही है सही भी है बच्चे कौन सा वोट देते है !!

आप महान हो प्रभु, एक प्रोफेशनल खिलाड़ी का स्वस्थ होना देश के लिए जरूरी भी है देश को शीघ्र स्वस्थ होने की कामना करनी चाहिए.. गरीबों के बच्चों का क्या है गलती है उनकी जो गरीबी में भी बच्चे पैदा करते हैं नही खिला सकते नही इलाज़ करा सकते तो इसमें नीतीश या सरकार का क्या दोष है

More than 130 kids have died due to #Encephalitis in Bihar but Pradhan Sevak is busy consoling Shikhar Dhawan for a minor thumb injury.

सर शिखर धवन की चोट तो ठीक हो जाएगी लेकिन जो 115 बच्चे इलाज के अभाव में चले गये वो कभी लौट कर नहीं आंएगे। जरा दो शब्द उनके लिए भी लिख दीजिए।