The Congress on Friday claimed that the Modi government was "dragged into" providing free COVID-19 vaccinations on the insistence of the opposition ꧙and the Supreme Court, and said it is hard to forget the "extent of the mismanagement" that occurred during🐓 the pandemic.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the BJP has been touting free COVID-19 vaccinations as a bi🧜g acꦛhievement.
"The truth is the Modi Sarkar was dragged into doing so by the insistence of the Opposition and the intervention of the Supreme Court.📖 Aap chronology samaj🌞hiye: On April 18, 2021, Dr. Manmohan Singh writes to the Prime Minister, urging him to clarify vaccine policy - which until then was chaotic and not systematized - and giving him well-thought out suggestions on how to maximise vaccinations," Ramesh said on X.
On April 19, 2021, the Union government announced the "Liberalised Pricing 🎉and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy" which made the vaccination of citizens between 18 and 44 years the responsibility of the state governments - decidedly not a universal free immunization scheme, he said.
On May 12, 2021, 12 leaders from the🐈 Opposition wrote a joint letter to the prime minister where they demanded a "free, universal mass vaccination campaign", Ramesh pointed out.
On May 31, 2021, the Supreme Court termed the Modified Vaccination Strategy "arbitrary and ir🥀rational" and ordered the Modi government to review it by June 13, 2021, he said.
"It was o🃏nl✱y then, on June 7, 2021, that PM (Narendra) Modi announced a universal vaccination programme," Ramesh said.
"It is hard to forget the extent of the mismanagement that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic: the corpses that choked the Ganga, the acute shortages of oxygen, the indignities and cha🃏os of the vaccinat🎃ions," he alleged.
Ramesh said no amount of "propaganda" will🐬 erase the pain of lakhs of families across India.
