the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday it published its manifesto for the Assembly polls in Bihar with the first promise that it will be the free distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine once it is approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who published the manifesto in Patna said: “As soon as COVID-19 vaccine is available for large-scale production, all people in Bihar will receive free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our survey manifesto. “
The announcement sparked a storm of criticism of the BJP on social media from opposition leaders who felt that promising free vaccines as an electoral promise during a pandemic was morally questionable. Given this, the high-ranking leader of the BJP, Bhupendra Yadav, clarified on Twitter. In response to the leader of Congress, Shashi Tharoor, Yadav tweeted: “Your attempt to misrepresent Smt Nirmala Sitharaman’s statement reeks of desperation. All parties issue manifests. The vaccines will be available to all Indians at nominal costs. States can do it for free. In Bihar, we will ”.
The head of BJP’s information technology cell, Amit Malviya, offered further clarification. “Like all programs, the Center will provide vaccines to the states at a nominal rate. It is up to state governments to decide whether they want to give it free or not. With health being a state issue, Bihar BJP has decided to give it free ”, he said.
The manifesto also promised 19 lakhs of jobs over the next five years, including the appointment of three lakhs of teachers over the next year in schools and higher education institutions and one lakh of jobs in the health sector.
Employment has become a major issue in these elections with Rashtriya leader Janata Dal (RJD) Tejaswi Yadav promising that his first act, upon being elected to power, would be to create 10 lakhs of jobs.
A promise was also made to build 30 pucca lakh houses for the poor. Special attention will be paid to the information technology sector, as well as the establishment of 13 food processing parks.
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Under the New Education Policy, engineering and other technical teachings will be available in Hindi in the state. A system of minimum support prices for legumes will also be established in the State.
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“Bihar is a state in which all citizens are politically sensitive and well informed. They know and understand the promises a party makes. If someone raises questions about our manifesto, we can confidently answer them while delivering on what we promised, ”said Ms. Sitharaman.
He added that GDP has seen a sharp increase in Bihar under the NDA government, after the “Jungle Raj” years under the RJD government.
Ms. Sitharaman did not respond to any questions in the press.
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