Rahul Gandhi slams PM’s idea of ‘Tika Utsav’

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to observe 'Tika Utsav' (vaccine festival) from April 11-14, saying that vaccine shortage is a cause for serious concern and not an occasion to celebrate.

Rahul Gandhi took to his official Twitter handle to take a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a Tika Utsav. He tweeted in Hindi, “Amid surging Covid cases, vaccine shortage is a very serious matter, and not a festival.”

Rahul Gandhi’s tweet came a day after Prime Minister Modi proposed to hold Tika Utsav, a vaccination drive from April 11-14, so that the maximum number of eligible beneficiaries across states could be vaccinated.

In another tweet, Rahul Gandhi raised questions over the exports of vaccines to other countries at a time when India itself is grappling with the second wave of Covid-19 infections. He tweeted: “Is it right to export vaccines by putting the lives of citizens of the country at risk? The central government should help all the states without any bias. We have to work together to defeat this pandemic.”

India has shipped vaccine to 85 countries, some in the form of “gifts”, others in line with commercial agreements signed between the vaccine makers and the recipient nations, and the rest under the Covas Scheme, led by the World Health Organisation.

Meanwhile, India reported 1,31,968 Covid-19 cases and 780 deaths in the 24 hours ending 9 am Friday. The country’s caseload included 9,79,608 active cases and 1,19,13,292 recoveries and 1,67,642 deaths, the Union Health Ministry said.