Minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement on the Centre’s takeover of free anti-Covid vaccination, social media handles of senior BJP functionaries were in an overdrive.”The Modi government has always worked with determination towards the safety and health of the people. Today, the Prime Minister took a historic decision to provide free corona vaccine to all citizens above the age of 18 years across the country,” Home minister Amit Shah said soon after the PM made the announcement.
He said the PM’s decision will quash the disinformation campaign regarding vaccination.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also shot off a tweet along similar lines. “By announcing free vaccine from the central government to all the countrymen above the age of 18, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given great relief to the public and a new strength to fight against coronavirus,” the defence minister tweeted.
Party chief Jagat Prakash Nadda and other senior saffron figures, including Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, were also quickly off the block, in what marked an end of the spell where depredations of the “second wave”, highlighted by the desperate scramble for oxygen cylinders, appeared to have pushed the party on the backfoot.
Stunned by the ferocious second strike of the virus just after it had claimed success for tackling the first wave, BJP had instructed its leaders not to respond to the volley of criticism that was trained against them. However, steady decline, the dip looks dramatic if not sheer miracle when juxtaposed against the scary models drawn by biostatisticians, and the rapid augmentation of anti-Covid weaponry- from oxygen to drugs— appear to have helped the party regain its nerve.
The switch of gears was evident last week itself when Shah praised the PM for stemming the second wave. The Prime Minister’s retaking the control of vaccination appeared to have come as the second shot of morale-booster.
Nadda said Prime Minister Modi has always led the nation from the front and the decision has once again shown that the country will progress and thrive under his guidance. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has once again demonstrated statesmanship. Those making critical remarks against the vaccination should take a lesson and contribute positively,” he said.
Petroleum minister Pradhan called the Centre’s decision to supply free Covid vaccines to states ‘historic’ and said the PM had acted according to the citizens’ desire.
Surjitt sahani
