Oppn trying to incite students against govt: deputy CM, minister

OPPOSITION MUST EXPLAIN HOW CHILDREN BELOW 18 COULD BE INOCULATED WHEN THERE IS NO VACCINE FOR THEM, THEY SAID

Without taking name of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav for his “no examination without vaccination” tweet, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma and UP cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh on Tuesday asked the opposition to explain how children below 18 could be inoculated when there was no vaccine available for them.

“Those sitting at home and engaged in Twitter politics do not have this basic information how children can be inoculated when there’s no vaccines available for them. The opposition is trying to incite children against the government that reflects their negative politics. They are wasting their energy in quest of an issue on which they can do petty politics,” Sharma said in a statement.

“The opposition must learn from chief minister Yogi Adityanath, should step out from their homes and serve the people,” Sharma added. He said to maintain their existence in political arena, the opposition was working hard to find an issue. Sharma said how those who refused to take the jab were now talking about vaccination.

“The oppositions is rattled by the popularity of chief minister Yogi Adityanath among the masses. CM visited 50 districts in Covid times to take stock of measures taken to contain its spread. As a result, recovery rate in UP has gone up to 95%. Those sitting inside AC rooms and are only sending out tweets are disturbed how government has succeeded in controlling the spread of corona,” the deputy CM said.

“There is no vaccine available for children and Yadav is now trying to mislead them and has put their future in danger. Is he (Akhilesh’s) dreaming of ruining the state?,” asked cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh in a tweet. “He misled the people by saying he was not going to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as he didn’t trust the BJP government. Subsequently, he risked many more by violating Covid protocol,” Singh, also the spokesperson for the UP government, said.

He said the former chief minister was trying to change the goal post for his own convenience. “He first refused to get vaccinated and is now demanding vaccination for children below 18,” the minister said. Earlier in the day, the SP chief had tweeted, “Pehle tika, phir pariksha (No examination without vaccination).”

On the issue of examinations, Singh said over the phone that union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ and defence minister Rajnath Singh held meetings with all education ministers and secretaries across the country on Sunday to get feedback on conducting board exams. “Both CBSE and ISC have deferred class 12 exams and cancelled class 10 exams. A decision to conduct UP Board high school and intermediate examinations will be taken in consultation with chief minister Yogi Adityanath,” Sharma said.

Covid vaccination drive started in country on January 16 this year with two indigenously developed Covaxin and Covishield vaccines. The second phase of the drive to inoculate people above 60 and those over 45 with comorbidities began on March 1. The third phase began on April 1 for all above 45 years of age while people in 18-45 age group became eligible for inoculation in the next phase which started on May 1. On CM’s recent visit to Saifai and Azamgarh, Singh said Yogi had visited Saifai, the native village of SP chief, and Azamgarh, the parliamentary constituency of Akhilesh, without any semblance of partisan politics in which the SP indulged all through.