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For BJP, COVID-19 vaccine is a politics! To get a vaccine, you must vote for the party!

By alagu, 22 October, 2020
India, Bihar, BJP, Politics, COVID-19

As the state of Bihar is just a week away from the legislative elections, which have keenly been watched by the entire nation on who will be progressing towards the victory. With the direct race between BJP led NDA alliance and the Congress-RJD alliance, the political parties have been unfolding the election manifestos to cover the voters in the state as the assembly polls hold national importance as it will be the first state elections to be held amid the COVID-19 outbreak and faltering economy. 

The BJP led alliance has been hoping to retain the power in the state in the albeit of severe allegations leveled by the opposition parties and the Central ruling party has now found a strong factor for its victory campaign - COVID19 vaccine. In the COVID-19 vaccine, BJP has found a new politics that if the party gets elected in the state, it has promised that every people in Bihar will be given a free COVID-19 vaccination. 

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has, on Thursday, released the BJP's election manifesto at a party event held in Patna, Bihar. In a bid to safeguard the power and to win big, the Central ruling party has cooked the manifesto with having COVID-19, jobs, and the health sector as some of its ingredients. According to reports, the BJP has promised a free Coronavirus vaccine for all in Bihar, which had now caught massive flak from the opposition parties. 

It has arisen the questions on whether BJP, being a Central ruling party, won't concentrate on the COVID-19 vaccine in Bihar if it loses power in the state and by adding the imperative factor of the COVID-19 vaccine in the election manifesto to cover the voters, it also has raised the question of whether the BJP is coercing or threatening the voters in Bihar to vote for the party to avail the COVID-19 vaccine, which is currently must for the country and shouldn't be mixed with the politics. 

In what has become an aberrant start, the BJP's manifesto has strongly been criticized for roping in the COVID-19 vaccine as the poll promise though it rules the Central government. While addressing the reporters after releasing the manifesto, Nirmala Sitharaman said, "Bihar is one state where all citizens are politically sensitive & well informed. They know & understand the promises a party makes. If anyone raises questions on our manifesto, we can answer them with confidence as we fulfill what we promised".

Along with the promise of a free COVID-19 vaccination, BJP has promised to generate 19 lakh jobs in Bihar and some of the other promises of the party include- 3 lakh new teachers' appointments, making Bihar an IT Hub to generate 10 lakh jobs, making one score women self-reliant, one lakh jobs in the health sector, and free tablets for all students from Class 9. It is in the apparent public domain that the entire world has been racing to find a vaccine to treat the novel coronavirus and the nations are yet to achieve potential and possible findings. 

The Union Finance Minister said, "As soon as COVID-19 vaccine is available for production at a mass scale every person in Bihar will get a free vaccination. This is the first promise mentioned in our poll manifesto". The BJP had asserted that its ally JD(U) Chief Nitish Kumar will be Chief Minister for the next five years. The reports say that BJP's promise of nearly two million jobs has come to counter the promise given by RJD's Tejashwi Yadav. 

RJD is contesting the polls in alliance with the Congress party and Yadav had promised 10 lakh government jobs if he wins the election. The reports stated that unemployment has been one of the major factors that would dominate the assembly polls and both the rivals have been coming up with new promises to generate more jobs in the state. 

BJP Bihar Chief Sanjay Jaiswal said that of these 19 lakh jobs, four lakh jobs will be in the government sector - three lakh teachers and one lakh in the health sector while the rest would be generated in the IT cub and agricultural sector. According to reports, Bihar elections will be held in three phases and the state will vote to elect a new assembly that consists of 243 constituencies. The elections will be held on October 28, November 3, and November 7 and the results will be declared on November 10. 

 

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