Right from the day when the pandemic first began in India almost a year ago, the Congress party has played the role of a destructive force in the fight against coronavirus instead of contributing constructively. From inducing a massive gathering of the farmers in Punjab, to poorly dealing with the crisis in the state where it is in the government, the Congress party has proved itself totally clueless in the fight against the pandemic. Now, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Punjab, and Chhattisgarh – the states led by Congress and its allies have said that they would not be able to vaccinate the people above the age of 18 and blamed it all on the Centre.
It must be noted that even before the second wave of the virus started in the country, Congress-ruled states like Punjab, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh were registering most of the cases. These states had the lowest vaccination rate and even testing per million was low.
Now, even before the vaccination drive for the next age group starts, the governments in states like Punjab, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh have started crying foul about the availability of vaccines. On one hand, where Uttar Pradesh ordered 50 lakh vaccines, on the other, the health ministers of the Congress-ruled states are arguing that there is a shortage of vaccines.
With Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech increasing their production capability, soon there will be enough vaccines for all citizens of India. But, instead of looking for options, the Congress-ruled states are arguing that the Serum Institute of India is not supplying them with enough vaccines. This is probably a strategy to blame the Union government in advance so that if anything goes wrong or the vaccination rate is low, Congress and its allies can easily blame Prime Minister Modi.
Congress leader and Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo said, “There is no way shots can be administered if the vaccine is not available. How will we provide vaccination? We are ready to vaccinate, provided we have the vaccines.”
Punjab, led by Congress, which came out as the most inefficient and incompetent state in dealing with the pandemic from day one, too blamed the Union government. Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said, “We are being meted out step-motherly treatment. The Centre should provide the vaccine and essential life-saving medicines.”
“If the Centre does not support us, how can we roll out the vaccination drive? We are only hand-to-mouth on vaccines. The Centre should allot the vaccine and provide it to us,” Sidhu said.
Jharkhand Health Minister Banna Gupta, on the other hand, blamed the Union government for step-motherly treatment. “Step-motherly treatment is being meted out to Congress-ruled states like us. The prime minister is politicising everything and we have to fight a dual battle of saving people from coronavirus and fighting politics,” he said.
“The Centre has hijacked their production capacity (manufacturers’) and struck a deal for Rs 150 per dose. The government that talks of one constitution, one tax, are now trying to derive benefits out of pandemic by different pricing of vaccines,” he added.
Similarly, the Health Minister of Rajasthan also blamed the Union government for everything. The situation seems utterly similar to the government of Maharashtra, which is playing the blame game ever over the rising cases of coronavirus, instead of getting its act together. The Congress-led state governments across the country are reportedly proving to be as inefficient and incompetent as Rahul Gandhi and are blaming the Union government for their inefficiencies.