People shoudn't be turned into "Guinea pigs" to test Covid-19 vaccine, said Digvijaya Singh. (FILE)
Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday said that people of the country should not be turned into "Guinea pigs" to test the Covid-19 vaccine, amidst competition in the world with major pharma companies vying to find an effective vaccine against the deadly virus.
Speaking about the Covid-19 vaccine, Mr Singh said, "There is a competition going on between the global leaders. Which vaccine should be used in which pharmaceuticals company, this thing should be avoided. People of India should not be made Guinea pigs.
Mr Singh also took a jibe at Haryana health minister Anil Vij who received the first dose of Bharat Biotech's Covid-19 vaccine candidate, Covaxin, during its Phase-III trial two weeks ago, and on Saturday confirmed that he tested positive for the virus.
"Haryana's Minister Vij Sahab got himself vaccinated to gain fame and later got infected with COVID. He is now explaining about doses and duration..." Mr Singh said.
Speaking about the farmers' protest and farm laws, the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Singh said, "I would like to tell Modi Ji to leave his stubbornness and rise above his ego. If the Central government withdraws these three laws and makes a joint parliamentary or select committee to hold discussions with all the farm unions and farmer organisations over this subject and redraft the laws again, this movement can be taken back."
Farmers have been protesting on different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws--Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
Leaders of the farmer groups have held several rounds of talks with the government but all of them remained inconclusive so far. After the fifth round of talks, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called another meeting on December 9.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)