Bengal BJP says free vaccines for all ‘as soon as’ it comes to power
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the vaccine free for everyone. She said the Centre’s new vaccination strategy was biased in favour of the market and was against the interest of people.
With just two phases to go in the West Bengal assembly election, the state BJP has announced that it will provide COVID-19 vaccines free of cost if it comes to power.
In a tweet, the party said that “as soon as” it comes to power, vaccine will be provided “free of cost to everyone”.
As soon as BJP government comes to power in West Bengal, COVID-19 vaccine will be provided free of cost to everyone. pic.twitter.com/gzxCOUMjpr
— BJP Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) April 23, 2021
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make the vaccine free for everyone. She said the Centre’s new vaccination strategy was biased in favour of the market and was against the interest of people.
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In her second letter to Modi in a week on this subject, Banerjee also said that vaccine manufacturers should not do business with vaccines in this hour of crisis.
This is not the first time that the BJP has dangled the carrot of free vaccine in front of voters. In October 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had made the same promise to the electorate ahead of Bihar assembly election. “The NDA government in Bihar has set an example in the fight against the novel coronavirus. It is our promise that when a vaccine for COVID is available after clearance from ICMR, every Bihar resident will be given free vaccination,” she said while releasing the party’s manifesto.
The move was criticised by opposition parties, who said the ruling party was using the pandemic for political games.
The BJP-led NDA did go on to win the election but the situation in Bihar continues to be grim, with the second wave of COVID-19 wreaking havoc in the state. Out of a population of more than 10 crore, only 63 lakh people have been inoculated in Bihar so far.
