Union Minister Goyal demands apology from CM Siddaramaiah over vaccine remarks
Bengaluru, Jul 5 (PTI): Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Saturday demanded that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah apologise to the country's scientists and pharmaceutical sector for his recent remarks linking COVID-19 vaccines to a spate of heart attack deaths in the state and questioned whether he was "running the agenda of foreign forces".
Accusing the Chief Minister of "insulting" India's scientists, startups, and its pharmaceutical strength, Goyal said his comments undermine the people who worked tirelessly during the pandemic.
According to Goyal, it is "unfortunate" that such remarks are coming from the CM of a country that is known as the 'pharmacy of the world', a country where our startups are expanding and forming an ecosystem, a country where our vaccines were exported on a large scale to other nations.
This was possible only because our pharmaceutical companies had the strength and innovation to produce vaccines at a cost of less than Rs 100, he told reporters here.
Lauding the pharmaceutical companies, he said they made India proud.
"We didn't just roll out one vaccine, but two. The country was able to provide free vaccines to our entire population... He insulted our scientists and pharmaceutical companies," he claimed.
"Is he running the agenda of foreign forces that want to harm India's pharmaceutical sector, disturbed by India's financial growth? Whether it is the Congress party, the CM, or all their partners, do they want to strengthen the hands of foreign forces by demeaning India? He should answer and apologise to our scientists and pharmaceutical companies," he further alleged.
Earlier, addressing the IIT Madras Alumni Association's Sangam 2025 event here, he added that Siddaramaiah does not take pride in India’s success or its startups and scientists. Instead, he is "ashamed of India and its startups achieving such remarkable success."
He credited Bharat Biotech for developing India's first indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, Covaxin, and Oxford-AstraZeneca for granting rights to produce Covishield at Pune-based Serum Institute of India.
"We were not only able to provide 2.5 billion vaccines free of charge to all our citizens, but also supplied vaccines to over 100 nations, particularly less developed or developing countries that otherwise had no protection against this disease," he said.
Goyal pointed out that even today, India is being thanked for the medicines and vaccines it provided to other nations during the pandemic.
"They (Congress) want to run down India's success stories, and it pains us when we hear this kind of negativity coming from certain sections of society," he alleged.
Neither the Congress nor Siddaramaiah has responded to Goyal's claims so far.
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Assam: 23,000 people affected by urban floods as IMD forecasts more rain
Guwahati (PTI): More than 23,000 people have been affected by urban floods in Assam as rains lashed several parts of the state, while the IMD warned of more showers, official sources said on Friday.
The Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA), in its bulletin, said urban floods have been reported from the three districts of Kamrup (Metropolitan), Sribhumi and Cachar.
Four revenue circles and 12 villages have been inundated in these districts, affecting 23,619 people.
The worst-hit has been Cachar district, where 15,617 people have been affected, followed by Sribhumi with 8,002 flood-hit people, according to the bulletin.
There were no reports of deaths or people missing in the urban floods in the last 24 hours, the ASDMA said.
Fifty-three marooned people and three animals were rescued by a State Disaster Relief Force boat in Sribhumi district.
Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC), Guwahati, has issued an 'orange alert' for the four districts of Sribhumi, Hailakandi, Cachar and Dima Hasao for the next 24 hours.
An 'orange alert' implies 'be prepared to take action' and is sounded when thunderstorm and lightning accompanied with gusty wind reaching wind speed 30 to 40 kmph, with heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places.
'Yellow alert' to be on 'watch/be updated' has been issued for 20 districts -- Dhubri, South Salmara-Mankachar, Goalpara, Kokrajhar, Barpeta, Bongaigaon, Bajali, Tamulpur, Nalbari, both Kamrup districts, Udalguri, West Karbi Anglong, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Charaideo, Dibrugarh and Tinsukia.
Some of the districts on 'yellow alert' are likely to continue receiving heavy rainfall along with thunderstorms for the next couple of days, as per the RMC forecast.
