Leaders of 12 Opposition parties sent Prime Minister Narendra Modi a letter demanding free coronavirus vaccine and the suspension of the Central Vista programme, among other things, citing the Covid-19 pandemic’s “unprecedented dimensions of a human disaster.”
In a joint letter to Prime Minister Modi, the opposition leaders urged him to use the money set aside for the Central Vista project to purchase oxygen and vaccines instead.
They suggested that PM Modi give foodgrains to the poor as well as Rs 6,000 per month to the unemployed, among other things. They also requested that the three Central farm laws be repealed, claiming that doing so would help prevent lakhs of ‘annadatas’ (food-growers) from being victims of the pandemic.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting against agrarian laws on three of Delhi’s borders, demanding that laws passed by Parliament in September last year be repealed.
Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister and JDS chief H D Deve Gowda, and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar are among the signatories to the joint message. Chief ministers Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), MK Stalin (DMK), and Hemant Soren (DMK) are among the others (JMM).
Former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Akhilesh Yadav (SP), as well as RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, CPI’s D Raja, and Sitaram Yechury, have signed the document (CPI-M).
“Unfortunately, your government has either ignored or refused all these suggestions. This only compounded the situation to reach such an apocalyptic human tragedy,” they said in the letter.
Without going into detail about the Central government’s “actions of commission and omission” that have led to the country’s “tragic move,” opposition leaders requested that some of the steps they proposed be implemented on a war footing.
Obtain vaccines in a single location from both available foreign and domestic outlets. Start a nationwide, free, mandatory mass vaccine programme right away. To increase domestic vaccine production, use compulsory licencing. The leaders said in their letter that they will use a budgetary allowance of Rs 35,000 crores for vaccinations.
“Though it has not been the practice of your office or government, we would appreciate a response to our suggestions in the interests of India and our people,” the leaders added.
India saw a record 4,205 COVID-19 fatalities in a day taking the death toll to 2,54,197, while 3,48,421 new coronavirus infections were reported, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.
