New Delhi: Asserting that the COVID-19 vaccination will be complete in India by December this year, the BJP on Friday slammed Rahul Gandhi for his attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the pandemic's spread and said the language he used and the way he tried to stoke "fears" confirm that the Congress was behind the "toolkit".
Speaking to reporters, senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar noted that the Health ministry had recently given a roadmap about producing 216 crore doses by December and how 108 crore people will be vaccinated, as he rebutted Gandhi's claim that it may take three years to finish the exercise, considered critical to curb the disease.
Attacking the Congress leader, the Information and Broadcasting minister alleged that his choice of words like "nautanki" for the Prime Minister when Modi is working to curb Covid is part of the toolkit's script, referring to a controversial document about targeting the government.
The BJP has claimed that the Congress is behind it, a charge the opposition party has rejected. It has instead blamed the BJP and sought a police probe into the matter.
"It has been confirmed, and there is no need for any evidence.
It is clear that the toolkit was produced by you. The kind of language you used and the way you tried to stoke confusion and fear among people is part of that politics," Javadekar said.
India ranks second in the world in the scale of vaccination by administering over 20 crore doses, and it is set to see a big jump from August, he said.
Attacking the Congress, Javadekar said its leaders raised questions and spread doubts about the indigenously manufactured Covaxin.
Earlier, Gandhi had held Modi responsible for the second Coronavirus wave and warned of more waves at the current rate of vaccination.
The cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country has crossed 20.86 crore, the Union Health ministry said on Friday.
It said 13,36,309 people in the age group of 18-44 years received their first dose and 275 beneficiaries of the same group received their second dose of COVID vaccine on Friday.
Cumulatively 1,66,47,122 beneficiaries in this age group have been vaccinated since the start of phase three of the immunisation drive.
Meanwhile, the single-day rise in Covid cases in India fell below the 2-lakh mark for the second time this month, while the recoveries continue to outnumber daily cases for the 15th consecutive day, according to the ministry data on Friday. A total of 1,86,364 new infections were reported in a day, the lowest in around 44 days, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 2,75,55,457. The death toll climbed to 3,18,895 with 3,660 daily deaths, it showed at 8 am.