Congress on Sunday hit out at the Modi government for describing the vaccination drive as an “utsav” (festival) and likened it more to a “crusade” against the pandemic.
“By no stretch of imagination can it be a festival. The vaccination drive is a crusade,” senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a four-day ‘Tika Utsav’ – a mega vaccination drive – beginning Sunday.
He accused the Modi government of resorting to “rhetoric and hyperbole” after having “messed up” the management of the production and supply sides of the vaccines.
Chidambaram also demanded that the government provide funds to vaccine makers to step up production in India and ramp up supplies.
“Government must also authorise the use of more approved vaccines and allow their manufacture or import. We have a duopoly of two vaccines, but they are hardly sufficient to vaccinate a nation of 138 crore,” the former Finance Minister said.
He said the Congress was the first to demand universal vaccination and insisted that inoculation should be a walk-in programme with no requirement of pre-registration.
(Published 11 April 2021, 17:31 IST)
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