‘Leave election campaign,’ UP CM Yogi faces massive uproar over Jhansi hospital tragedy

The opposition in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh came down heavily on the ruling government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a fire tragedy at a government hospital that killed at least 10 infants on Friday (Nov 15). The Samajwadi Party (SP) accused the BJP government and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of gross negligence of the state’s health index. The opposition also demanded the state’s health minister, Brajesh Pathak, step down over the horrific fire at Laxmibai Medical College in the city of Jhansi.

SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav launched a scathing attack on the BJP on Saturday, saying, “The Chief Minister should leave the election campaign and false claims of 'everything being fine' and focus on the poor condition of health and medical facilities.”

The SP chief also blamed the fire incident on equipment of alleged poor quality. “This is a direct case of negligence of medical management and administration or of poor quality oxygen concentrator. Punitive action should be taken against all those responsible in this case,” the SP chief wrote.

Earlier, media reports claimed that the fire at the hospital may have started due to a short circuit in an oxygen concentrator. At the time of the incident, 54 babies were admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the hospital. While some babies were rescued, others were burnt to death and some remain in critical condition. The incident has now caused nationwide outrage.

Congress leader and the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the lower house of the Indian Parliament, Rahul Gandhi, also raised questions about the state’s BJP government.

“It seems that such tragic incidents are happening one after another in Uttar Pradesh which raises so many serious questions about negligence of the government?” Gandhi wrote on X. He also demanded a probe be launched into the incident, asking for severe legal consequences for the culprits.

Watch:Jhansi Tragedy: Newborns Loses Life In Blaze At Government Hospital In Jhansi

Both PM Modi and UP CM Yogi mourned the death of the children, assuring medical and financial assistance to the bereaved families.

Angry users on social media also took the Yogi government to task and condemned the government for failing the state’s poor.

“Safety and security in every institution is absolutely zero. It's just highlighted whenever tragedy happens. After 2 days, everything goes usual and next tragedy starts it's preparation to appear,” wrote one user.

“Nothing will change in the system. May almighty be kind to the people who list their precious new borns,” wrote a second user. “All the babus responsible from hospital administration to fire department and municipality must go to jail for life along with the health and Pwd minister,” wrote a third one.