Union minister Anurag Thakur hit out at former Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray for his comments on Covid vaccines during the party’s Foundation Day celebrations in Mumbai. Thakur said that he was ousted from power by his supporters and people of Maharashtra.

“Uddhav Thackeray was ousted from power by his supporters and the people of Maharashtra. The world believes that India provided free vaccines and medicines to 160 countries and free of cost to the people of the country. Due to the fear of COVID, he did not come out of the house and forgot the people of the state,” said Anurag Thakur

Thakur’s comment came in response to Thackeray’s remark on BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis purportedly giving credit for the vaccine development to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Uddhav ji was scared of the Covid-19 pandemic and remained at home. Modi ji offered leadership to society and encouragement to the scientists and vaccine-makers,” Thakur said.

“Not just the country, but the world believes that 160 countries received the Covid-19 vaccine through the vaccine-Maitri programme of our country,” the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting added.

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A person who did not leave his home for two and a half years due to the fear of Covid-19 was ousted from power by his own party workers and people, Thakur further said, referring to Thackeray whose government in Maharashtra fell last June following Eknath Shinde’s revolt.

Earlier, Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had said that PM Modi made the vaccine and provided it to the world. Referring to Fadnavis’s statement, Thackeray, in his speech at the party event on Monday, questioned the role of other pharmaceutical companies if Prime Minister Modi was solely responsible for producing the vaccines. “If Modi ji made the vaccine, what were the scientists doing? Were they (merely) cutting grass?”

In addition to slamming Thackeray’s stance on Covid vaccines, Thakur also mentioned the Palghar Sadhu attack during Thackeray’s regime. Thakur said that Thackeray should be ashamed of the incident in which sadhus were attacked and killed while his government was in power.