"Don't panic, says the government. Instead, shall we go on a picnic?," P Chidambaram wrote
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday had a scathing response to the Centre asking citizens not to panic amid the rising COVID-19 cases in the country. In a tweet, he asked whether people were out to go on a "picnic" in the current scenario.
He wrote, "Don't panic, says the government. Instead, shall we go on a picnic?"
In another tweet, he further asked what "system" the Central government was referring to. He wrote, "Trust the system, says the government. Oh, is System bigger than the Government? Please tell us, who is the Prime Minister of the System?"
He also came down harshly on Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan with regards to the COVID-19 vaccination drive.
With reference to the centre's announcement that all those above the age of 18 are eligible for vaccination from May 1, Mr Chidambaram wrote, "Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan will be put to test on May 1. His claim and his government's claim that there are sufficient stocks of vaccines with the States will be blown away."
Asking if the Health Minister would resign if people failed to obtain vaccines from May 1, he said, "No State seems to be ready to open vaccination to the 18-44 years population. Even the CoWin app is not co-operating! If people are turned away from the vaccination centres after May 1 on the ground of 'No vaccine', will the Health Minister resign?"
The CoWin app is the government's dedicated platform for all vaccination-related processes and information. On Wednesday, when the registrations were opened up for all adults looking to get vaccinated, many complained that the CoWin site was not working. The glitch that led to the malfunctioning of the site was later rectified.
Mr Chidambaram's response comes at a time when the COVID-19 caseload in India added 3,79,257 fresh infections in the last 24 hours.
With the new cases, the total infection number has surged to 1.83 crores.