Unparalleled: PM Modi praises Yogi Adityanath govt over COVID-19 second wave handling

Modi made the comment during his visit to his parliamentary constituency Varanasi.

"COVID-19 had attacked us with its full might during the second wave... But the way the UP government has handled the situation is unparalleled," the Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister also has praised the state for recording the maximum number of vaccinations in the country.

Modi's praises for Adityanath, who belongs to the Prime Minister's political outfit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), comes a day after the Supreme Court questioned the state over its decision to hold Kanwar Yatra amid the pandemic.

A two-judge bench of Justices RF Nariman and BR Gavai said as quoted by NDTV, "We read something disturbing in The Indian Express today that Uttar Pradesh has chosen to continue with the Kanwar Yatra while Uttarakhand, with hindsight of experience, has said there will be no yatra."

"We wish to know the stand of the respective governments. The citizens of India are completely perplexed. They do not know what is going on. And all this as the PM, when asked about the third wave of Covid, said we cannot compromise even one bit."

The court had taken the matter suo motu after the Yogi Adityanath government had said the yatra could take place from Jul 25 with the minimum number of people maintaining COVID-19 protocols.

Weeks ago, Uttar Pradesh had hit the headlines when dead bodies of COVID-19 patients were seen floating in river Ganga, triggering political debates across the country.

Not just opposition leaders, Adityanath's own ministers had criticised the ruling dispensation over the COVID-19 handling.

Modi on Thursday inaugurated a number of developmental projects in the state.

Uttar Pradesh will go to state polls in early 2022.