Days after Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said there was no tradition of visiting families, which lose infants, his deputy, Sachin Pilot, on Tuesday said if there is not one, then it should be started.
“On one hand, we talk about discontinuing bad traditions such as keeping veils, but on the other, we hide behind traditions,” he said. “If there is no tradition of meeting bereaved families, then such a tradition should be started,” Pilot said without naming Gehlot.
Pilot, who has met the parents of the infants who died at Kota’s JK Lon Hospital, had earlier criticised his government over the deaths saying its response to them was neither satisfactory nor sensitive or compassionate. He had called for accountability to be fixed after Gehlot had claimed there has been a decline in the infant deaths at the hospital during the Congress rule.
Pilot on Tuesday said it was the government’s responsibility to share the pain and visit the families of the dead children. “There is no condolence meet for infants but it is our responsibility to wipe tears of their parents.”
Gehlot had told reporters last week that condolence meetings are not held for infants. “I have not heard about people visiting families which lose infants,” he said, referring to Pilot’s visit.
“The political leaders are using such incidents to settle personal scores rather than focusing on the real issue of health. They are deliberately trying to divert attention from the issue and playing a game to prove each other wrong,” said political analyst Narayan Bareth.
He said no one is debating that the government is spending a mere 1% of the GDP on health.
