India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday took a swipe at the Samajwadi Party and its leadership, after its two main leaders in Uttar Pradesh state got vaccinated against COVID-19.
The party had been goaded by criticism from the president of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Akhilesh Yadav, of the central government’s vaccination policy and his earlier declaration that he would not receive a shot. His party is the main opposition to the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh.
On Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav, the former chief of Uttar Pradesh, was vaccinated. He got the jab a day after his father - senior party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav - was inoculated.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Akhilesh stated that because of public outrage, the government has finally announced that it would take control of vaccinations instead of using it as a political football. “We were against the 'BJP's vaccine', but welcome the 'Government of India' vaccine. We will also get vaccinated and appeal to all those who could not get it because of a shortage of doses to do the same.”
जनाक्रोश को देखते हुए आख़िरकार सरकार ने कोरोना के टीके के राजनीतिकरण की जगह ये घोषणा करी कि वो टीके लगवाएगी।
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) June 8, 2021
हम भाजपा के टीके के ख़िलाफ़ थे पर ‘भारत सरकार’ के टीके का स्वागत करते हुए हम भी टीका लगवाएंगे व टीके की कमी से जो लोग लगवा नहीं सके थे उनसे भी लगवाने की अपील करते हैं।
The State’s ruling BJP, however, slammed the former state chief for spreading alarm about the vaccine and asked him to apologise for it.
“We appreciate that Akhilesh Yadav will get the vaccine. He is a prosperous man who can easily get COVID-19 jab. But he did everything to derail the vaccination programme in the state. He was peddling misinformation regarding the vaccination drive which spread confusion among the masses,” Shalabh Mani Tripathi, the media adviser to Uttar Pradesh's chief Yogi Adityanath, told Sputnik.
“His anti-vaccination comments hit our vaccination programme badly. Because of such misleading information some inhabitants of Sisaura village recently jumped into the Saryu River on seeing a team of health officials coming to inoculate them against coronavirus,” he added.
Replying to the BJP's comments about Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party spokesman, Ghanshyam Tiwari, told Sputnik that vaccines are the ultimate way for people to win the fight against the pandemic.
“The Samajwadi Party will lead, as well as support, every effort to help every Indian get vaccinated. In the past, we have criticised the Narendra Modi Government's efforts to run vaccination drives with a half-baked plan focused on political communication rather than public health outreach,” he said on Tuesday.
In January, Akhilesh Yadav described the anti-coronavirus vaccines as “vaccines of the BJP '' and said he would refuse a shot.
Later, he clarified his position by saying that he had never insulted the scientists who developed the vaccines. "We have full confidence in the abilities of our scientists but we don't have any faith in the BJP's unscientific mentality, as well as its vaccination system which has become dormant during these days of COVID-19. I will not take this political vaccine. [Our] SP government will provide free vaccines,” he added.
