Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its manifesto for three-phased Bihar elections and promised that after the approval of the coronavirus vaccine from ICMR, every person in the State will get vaccinated free of cost.
"In the fight against coronavirus, the NDA government has set an example in the country. It is our resolution that as soon as the vaccine will be approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), every person in the State will be vaccinated," the manifesto said.
Union Finance Minister and BJP leader Nirmala Sitharaman released the party's manifesto.
"As soon as COVID-19 vaccine will be available for production at a mass scale every person in Bihar will get free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto," Sitharaman said.
However, the promise of free COVID-19 vaccine for every person in Bihar did not go well with Twitterati. Several of them slammed BJP for the "Politicisation of vaccine".
"This is a national disgrace! A life saving vaccine can't be politicised. What happens if BJP loses the polls in Bihar? This is wrong at so many levels! (sic)," wrote Aam Aadmi Party's, Ruben Mascarenhas.
"Will @BJP4India be paying for these vaccines from the party treasury? If itβs coming from the government treasury then how can Bihar get free vaccines while the rest of the country has to pay? There is so much wrong with this blatant populism that shamefully exploits COVID fears (sic)," wrote former CM of Jammu and Kashmir, Omar Abdullah.
Check out the other reactions here:
Meanwhile, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare has clarified that the free COVID-19 vaccine will not only be for Bihar but for every state.
(With inputs from ANI)