Samajwadi Party Leader Ram Gopal Yadav Says ‘No Need To Provide Booster Doses for COVID-19 in India’

New Delhi, February 2: Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav on Wednesday said in the Rajya Sabha that there is no need to provide a booster dose for Covid-19 in the country and only the vaccine companies are being benefited by this drive. Slamming the government, he said that he was supporting the Motion of Thanks on the President's address because it's a tradition but he was doing it unwillingly as this address did not reflect the reality of the country.

Yadav said that when the parliamentarians asked the Union Health Secretary and DG of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) about the booster dose, they said that the Additional DG of ICMR will reply and he (ADG of ICMR) said that there was no necessity to provide booster doses in the country. He said "Only vaccination companies are being benefited because of this drive, and it was not needed."

Speaking further on the President's address, Yadav said that the President's speech was far away from reality. However, he said that he agreed that the frontline workers have done a commendable job during the pandemic and he appreciated these workers.

Talking about the record vaccinations in the country, he said that India has a huge population of over 126 crore and that is why the government has vaccinated such a large number of people. "The record was made by Israel which vaccinated all its citizens last year, this is called a record", Yadav quipped.

Mentioning Aayushman Bharat, he said that the scheme is good but there is a huge shortage of doctors in the country. The government has set up over 80,000 wellness centres but there are no doctors available in these centres.

Yadav added that the mover of the Motion of Thanks, BJP Member Geeta alias ChandraPrabha and another BJP MP Shwait Malik who seconded the Motion of Thanks, both were absent from the House after their speech. This is against the Parliamentary tradition and they should remain in the House today while the discussion is on, he added.

DMK MP Tiruchi Siva while participating in the debate, said that the government was ignoring the farmers of the country. "The country was an agrarian economy, but now it is becoming a corporate economy," he said.

Calling the BJP government as anti-regional languages, Siva said that it is imposing Hindi on non-Hindi speaking States. "The BJP government came to power with the mantra of minimum government, maximum governance, but now there is only maximum government and no governance," Siva added.

The debate on the Motion of Thanks remained inconclusive and will be taken up again on Wednesday. The proceedings of the House were also adjourned for the day.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 02, 2022 09:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).