Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stirred a controversy on Monday when he said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi used his Covid-19 vaccination to further his poll agenda in election-bound states.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “In PM’s inoculation visuals, there was ‘gamcha’ from Assam, and nurses who vaccinated him were from Kerala and Puducherry. Coincidentally, there are elections in these states. It would have been 5 states had he also carried Rishi Aurobindo’s photo and Geetanjali.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the first jab of indigenous Covid-19 vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech Covaxin on Monday. Soon after receiving the first dose of the vaccine at AIIMS Delhi, he tweeted, “Took my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at AIIMS.”
PM Modi was among the first to be inoculated as part of phase 2 of India’s Covid-19 immunisation drive, which will cover all people above the age of 60 and people above the age of 45 who have co-morbidities.
While AIIMS chief Dr Randeep Guleria said that PM Modi’s move to get vaccinated will help cull vaccine hesitancy, the Congress leader from West Bengal see it as a political move and linked it with upcoming assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry.
Hitting back at Chowdhury, BJP leader and Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan termed his comments as ‘dirty politics on vaccine’. Talking to the media, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “Those doing politics on vaccine are not just accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi but also playing with the health of the people of the country. The country will never forgive such people.”
Chouhan hailed PM Modi for waiting his turn to get vaccinated, “unlike several other heads of the state” and claimed that if the government had not divided the immunisation drive into several phases and categories, political leaders would have been first to secure vaccines for themselves.
Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad too urged the Opposition parties not to indulge in politics over vaccines and unite in the efforts against fighting Covid-19. “It is a matter of great assurance that today, when the turn of people above 60 years came, the Prime Minister in the most unassuming manner went to AIIMS at 7 am to take the vaccine and lead from the front. I want to tell the opposition parties that you will have enough opportunities to do politics in elections and otherwise, can we not unite in efforts against Corona?” Prasad said while speaking to ANI.
“Modi ji had clearly said that our Covid-19 warriors would be vaccinated first, and then us. To those who were questioning him, he has replied, “I was waiting for my turn”. We ministers have decided to avail of paid vaccination facility,” he added. “Remarkable how our doctors and scientists have worked in quick time to strengthen the global fight against Covid-19,” he added.
As India is helping its neighbouring countries and others amid the pandemic by providing Covid-19 vaccines, Prasad asserted that it is significant that the vaccine developed by India is being recognised, appreciated and sought by many countries and not just by our neighbours. He added that the vaccines are meant for all Indians, beyond political, regional, and ethnic divide.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, however, was not alone in slamming PM Modi after his vaccination. TMC MP Santanu Sen pointed out that the PM was not wearing a mask while getting inoculated. “@narendramodi ji is getting #COVID19 vaccine, Publicity defeats Medical Science. Photograph is more important than Protocol. Mask will make the newly grown rabindrik beard invisible. Feeding peacock & getting vaccine… Not same. God save India. @MamataOfficial saves Bengal.”