Ramesh hits back after minister's 'malicious' remarks on Cong pushing foreign vaccines' case during Covid

Congress on Sunday sought an apology from Minister of State Rajeev Chandrasekhar for his "distorted and malicious" remarks suggesting that its leaders pushed for Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine, saying such actions are expected of online trolls but not from a minister.

Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh shot off a letter to Chandrasekhar warning him of legal action if he did not apologise, clarify and take down the tweet levelling allegation against Rahul Gandhi, P Chidambaram and himself.

He said, "your actions are unacceptable, and you must be held accountable for spreading false and misleading information".

Congress Social Media and Digital Platforms Chairperson Supriya Shrinate has also written to Twitter seeking action against the post.

“Not only does it violate Twitter's community guidelines, but such brazenly false claims from a Minister of the Union Government affect accurate reporting, reflect a culture of intimidation to push a view, and are insensitive to the numerous families who lost loved ones during the pandemic,” Shrinate said in her letter.

After Pfizer CEO faced tough questions in Davos on its vaccine, the Minister had on Friday tweeted that he wanted to remind all people that the vaccine manufacturer tried to bully the government into accepting indemnity clause and "the Congress trio of Rahul, Chidamabaram and Jairam Ramesh kept pushing case of foreign vaccines during Covid-19".

"We can understand that for a regime built and sustained through propaganda, why would you feel compelled to make such a distorted and malicious statement? Thus, on merits of your claim, there is little to say other than it is a complete falsehood. At no point did any of the senior leaders that you name make any comment or observation on the indemnity clause," Ramesh said.

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He said a government must work with the Opposition in a democracy, especially at times of crisis and not turn every issue into a point of "false propaganda or point-scoring".

The Opposition has a Constitutional right to question administrative delays surrounding the vaccination drive, vaccine procurement, selection and distribution which is what we did in general terms and what we stand behind, he said.

"But to suggest that the leaders asked for relaxations of crucial safeguards is a complete distortion and misrepresentation of the reality," Ramesh said.

Emphasising that Chandrasekhar's tweet undermines the most basic principles of democracy and fairness, he said it sought to absolve the Modi government of any responsibility for its "mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis and the resultant loss of lives, to say nothing of the economic devastation".

Ramesh also said they find it "deeply concerning" that a Minister would make such "false and baseless" accusations without any evidence to back them up. "Such actions are expected of online trolls not of Ministers of the government who are supposed to be held to a higher standard of conduct," he added.