New Delhi: Former Congress Chief Rahul Gandhi took a dig at the centre by pointing out the differing stance of the BJP and the Centre on the subject of vaccinating each Indian.
Rahul took to Twitter on Thursday and said: “PM – Everyone will get a vaccine. BJP in Bihar elections – Everyone in Bihar will get a free vaccine. Now, Government – Never said everyone will get a vaccine. Exactly what does the Prime Minister stand by?”
The BJP during the Bihar Assembly elections had guaranteed that free vaccine will be provided to all if voted to power.
The Congress chief’s comments came a day after Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan stated that the government never talked about vaccinating everybody against COVID-19.
At a press briefing on Wednesday Bhushan stated: “I just want to make this clear that the government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country. It’s important that we discuss such scientific issues, based on factual information only and then analyse it.”
Mr Bhushan’s comments came three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi wen to the three key facilities that are working on a vaccine. The Prime Minister’s office said the visit was intended to assist him with getting a first-hand perspective of the preparations, challenges and roadmap in India’s endeavour to vaccinate its citizens.
On Tuesday, the centre stated there may not be a requirement to vaccinate the nation’s whole populace against COVID-19 if a critical number of individuals are given a shot to cut the chain of infection transmission, and made it clear it had never spoken about vaccinating everybody.
In the previous month, the BJP was censured after Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while launching the party’s manifesto for the Bihar elections, guaranteed free COVID-19 vaccine for all.
The declaration was met with shock and anger by opposition leaders, leaving the BJP battling off allegations that it was utilizing the promise of a vaccine- for an infectious and deadly disease that has already taken over 1.21 lakh lives in India alone – for its political agenda.
This morning itself, India reported 35,551 new COVID-19 infections, taking the nation’s COVID-19 case count to 95.3 lakh. Up to 526 individuals furthermore lost their lives to the highly viral sickness in this period. With this, a total number of 1,38,648 individuals have lost their lives to COVID-19 till now.
