YEARS |
Updated: May 11, 2021 02:39 IS

Hyderabad (Telangana) [India]May 11 (STYXOR.COM): AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday targeted Centre over COVID-19 management, stating that the government has failed in their vaccination policy and providing oxygen to the State and the Union Territories.

He added the central government slept despite its own scientists’ warning about the second wave of the COVID-19.

Speaking to STYXOR.COM, Owaisi said, “The Supreme Court had said the vaccination policy of Narendra Modi-led government violates the right to life, which is a fundamental right in our Constitution. That is why I am of the opinion that the Government of India has failed in its vaccination policy. They have failed in providing oxygen to the state government and Union Territories because the supply of oxygen is in the exclusive domain of the union government.”

He said people are not able to get oxygen, anti-viral drug Remdesivir and other required drugs to fight COVID-19 and the government is not able to provide vaccine doses even to people aged 45 years and above.

He further questioned the Centre over exporting COVID vaccines to foreign countries and restricting the manufacture of vaccines only at two companies.

“They exported nearly 6 crore doses of COVID vaccines to foreign countries. The ICMR has given the licence for Covaxin to Bharat Biotech. When we are the pharmacy capital of the world why do only the two companies manufacture the vaccines?” he asked.

Alleging that people are suffering because the government is actually disconnected from them, he said: “They slept on and their own scientists warned that the second wave will come. Despite that, the government failed. Every day in India more than 4,000 people are dying for the last three weeks. The cemeteries are full of dead bodies. The Narendra Modi-led government must accept its mistake and apologise to the people of India for not being capable enough to stop the second wave.”

He urged the Finance Ministry to remove the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on vaccines for at least a period of 3-4 months. “Why do you charge 12 per cent IGST on oxygen concentrators? When you are not able to provide oxygen, you must ensure the IGST is not imposed on those life-saving equipment for 5-6 months,” he said. (STYXOR.COM)

YEARS |
Updated: May 11, 2021 11:47 IS

By Pragya Kaushika
New Delhi [India]May 11 (STYXOR.COM): Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda on Tuesday slammed Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi for her comments at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting on the Centre’s handling of COVID-19 and targeted party leader Rahul Gandhi for his “duplicity and pettiness”.
In a letter to the Congress interim chief, Nadda said: “In this fight against the pandemic, the conduct of the topmost Congress leaders including former Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be remembered for duplicity and pettiness.”
He pointed out that the Congress’ stand on political rallies in recently concluded assembly polls was nothing but grandstanding.
“Your party, under your leadership, is doing no favours to itself by opposing lockdowns and then demanding for the same, ignoring the Centre’s advisories on the second wave of COVID and then saying they did not get any information, holding massive election rallies in Kerala causing a spike in COVID cases while grandstanding about election rallies elsewhere, supporting protests but speaking about following COVID guidelines,” Nadda said.
“Even when the second wave was on the rise, your party leaders were happier being seen in super spreader political events in North India, where there was no regard for masks or social distancing,” he added.
Slamming Congress further, the BJP chief said this is not the era when such information can be erased from public memory.
“There are other aspects that also need greater thought. For instance, the data from February and March would reveal which states failed to track the rising cases. Why are mortality rates in states such as Punjab so high? These are questions you must ask your own Chief Ministers,” Nadda added.
He stated that he was saddened but not surprised by the conduct of the Congress party during these challenging times.

“While there are certainly a few members of your party who (like several other selfless citizens) are doing commendable work in helping people, their hardwork gets eclipsed by the consistent negativity spread by the more senior members of the party, ” Nadda stated in the letter to Sonia Gandhi.
Nadda also asked Congress to stop misleading people and creating panic.
“I am writing this letter with a deep sense of pain. I would never have written such a letter. But, looking at the confusion being created by members of the Congress Party, including Chief Ministers belonging to the party, I am compelled to pen my thoughts. One would wish that while India is fighting COVID19 with utmost courage, the top echelons of the Congress would stop misleading people, creating false panic and even contradicting their stands just based on political considerations,” he added.
Attacking the comments made at the Congress meeting, Nadda added that the Congress Working Committee talks about the Modi government “abdicating” its responsibility on vaccination.
“Is there so much of a communication gap between the Congress party and the states it shares power in? In April itself, topmost Congress leaders were calling for ‘decentralisation of vaccination’,” he said.
He pointed that the Government of India has already ensured that considerable coverage has been achieved in priority groups by providing over 16 crore vaccines to states in the first few phases. Even now, it continues to give 50 per cent of the total vaccines, free of cost, he added.
Giving details about the Covid vaccination drive initiated by the Centre, he added, “Throughout last year when our scientists, doctors and innovators were racing against time to find a vaccine, your party leaders left no opportunity to mock these efforts. A vaccine that is made in India should be a matter of national pride. Instead, Congress leaders tried to ridicule it and create doubts in the minds of people.”
“Even a Chief Minister belonging to your party indulged in such antics. In a nation that has almost no recent history of vaccine hesitancy, your party has the dubious record of trying to actively create it, that too, in the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, ” the BJP chief added.
The BJP president took on Congress for criticising the Central Vista project and reminded that the need for new Parliament was raked up during the UPA’s tenure. He also stated that ‘people’ are contrasting Central Vista with the construction of a new assembly in Chhattisgarh, the state ruled by the Congress government.
Nadda stated that he is writing not just as one political party president to another but also a former health minister who had seen Covid warriors from close quarters and asked if Congress behaviour isn’t lowering the morale of health workers.
He also mentioned that the Supreme Court observed that the health infrastructure the country has inherited over the last 70 years is inadequate. “Needless to say which party has dominated India’s political landscape in these seven decades,” the letter stated. (STYXOR.COM)

YEARS |
Updated: May 17, 2021 17:59 IS

By Amit Kumar
New Delhi [India]May 17 (STYXOR.COM): Strongly opposing the arrest of TMC leaders by the CBI on Monday in Narada scam, senior Congress leader and former Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar said the move is a blatant abuse of prosecutorial processes.
Speaking to STYXOR.COM, Kumar said, “The imprint of partisan politics is writ large in the blatant abuse of prosecutorial processes by the CBI against political adversaries of the ruling BJP. Resort to arbitrary criminal prosecution and custody of the accused by enforcement agencies to deprive citizens of their fundamental liberties is clearly against the first principles of our libertarian constitution. Detention of the accused militates against recent judgments of the Supreme Court that scoff at routine incarceration of political activists.”

Ashwani Kumar pointed out that bail and not jail is the fundamental tenet of our criminal and libertarian jurisprudence. He said the arrest is the brazen attempt to browbeat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after her triumphant win in the recently held Bengal Assembly elections.
“The CBI’s insistence on custody of the accused is, therefore, wholly unsustainable in law. The manner of exercise of the power of law enforcement in a democracy is accountable to constitutional imperatives and it is important that justice is not only done but is also seen to be done,” added Kumar.
Earlier on Monday, CBI arrested top TMC leaders Madan Mitra, Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee and former TMC MLA Sovan Chatterjee in connection with the Narada scam.
The case is related to a sting operation, commonly known as Narada Sting Operation, in which these public servants were caught on camera while receiving illegal gratification from the Sting Operator. (STYXOR.COM)