Decoding the Centre’s Covid vaccine U-turn
Two thoughts came to my mind as I heard the prime minister (PM) address the nation on Monday, and I’d like to start with them. How artfully he can create a blemish-free image of himself and how cleverly he can dodge the blame directed at him by his critics. I almost came to admire his performance, as PM Modi weaved and ducked, claiming credit where little is due and avoiding blame where much is arguably deserved. It was a masterful attempt to make things look different to what we know. It would have been pretty convincing until you paused to consider the real facts.
The truth is in three critical respects what PM Modi announced on Monday is a glaring U-turn. The original vaccine policy required people under the age of 45 to pay for their vaccines. The Supreme Court (SC) called this “arbitrary and irrational”. It was, possibly, a lot more. You could also argue it breached fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution — the right not to be unjustifiably discriminated against (Article 14) and the more important right to life (Article 21). So I’m not surprised this was reversed. Otherwise, the SC might have declared it ultra vires. PM Modi also did away with the requirement that states should pay more than the Centre for the same vaccine. Just as he never explained why he wanted people between 18 and 45 to pay for their vaccines, he, similarly, offered no justification for requiring states to pay a higher price. More than arbitrary and irrational, this just felt wrong. If he had not reversed it, I have little hesitation in asserting this too could have been struck down.
The third U-turn concerns the right of private hospitals to charge what they believe is an appropriate fee for the vaccines they administer. Earlier, depending upon the hospital, this could vary pretty significantly. That will now cease because PM Modi has placed a ₹150 cap on service fees. This will please the vaccinated but not necessarily the vaccinators. Any special arrangements, such as drive-in facilities or doorstep vaccination, will almost certainly end. This time, what you gain on the swing, you lose on the roundabout.
There is, however, one aspect of the old policy that does seem to continue — the requirement people under 45 must register on COWIN to receive a jab, unlike those who are older. This could be a serious problem in rural India. As the apex court asked: “Is it realistically possible to expect (people) from rural areas to register on COWIN?” Although he hasn’t responded so far, my guess is PM Modi will have to answer this question fairly soon. That’s likely to prompt another U-turn.
Now, if you ask me, PM Modi’s reversal — akin to an acrobatic somersault — was necessary because there was imminent danger of the SC declaring some elements of his policy unconstitutional. What an embarrassment that would have been. Which brings me to how PM Modi explained all of this. Let me be colourful and borrow a literary allusion from King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table. On Monday, the PM presented himself as a modern Sir Galahad riding to our rescue. He said he was saving us from the follies of state governments on whose insistence a perfectly functioning vaccine policy had been distorted and made inequitable and inefficient. The problem is, even if you accept that, does the PM realise what it reveals?
Quite simply that he allowed himself to be bullied by a minority of state governments, run by non-bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formations, into converting a sensible and well-functioning policy into something chaotic, confused, and contradictory. That doesn’t suggest strength and steadfastness. It exposes weakness and vacillation. Because if his explanation is correct, he should have firmly rejected what the states wanted. Instead, he gave in.
The final outcome reminds me of a well-known line from a popular Hindi song of the 1960s, which I shall translate with a twist: “I didn’t make a mistake, I was made to make one”!
Karan Thapar is the author of Devil’s Advocate: The Untold Story The views expressed are personal