India’s management of Covid-19 was the best: Amit Shah

Ranking Covid-19 as the harshest situation the world faced in recent times, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on September 19 said India’s management of the pandemic was the best across countries.

“I think the harshest situation faced by the world and in which India was the most successful of all was the Covid-19 pandemic. India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi handled the crisis the best of all countries,” Shah said in an exclusive interview to Network 18.

Earlier, Shah launched Network18's coffee table book 'Modi At 75' that brings together 75 defining moments from the Prime Minister’s remarkable journey.

In his interview with Network18's Group Editor-in-Chief, Shah said while governments of other countries were battling Covid-19, in India, the Central government, the state governments and all the people fought together.

“To build this mood within the country, Modi had to face a lot of sarcasm and criticism. Some mocked the ‘thali bajao’ measure and others criticised the ‘janta curfew’. But all this was meant to boost the morale of the people of India. It was meant to build a collective fighting spirit in people,” Shah said.

The Union minister said India was the one of the first countries to constitute a team for vaccines. “India’s indigenous vaccine against Covid-19 was also ready in record time. The biggest takeaway was India’s use of technology to vaccinate its 140-crore people and to send them the certificates of the same. This was a huge task which we achieved through technology,” he said.

Shah recalled the second wave of Covid-19 when suddenly the requirement of oxygen in the country increased four times and India managed to arrange cylinders from across the world for its citizens.

“There could not have been a tougher situation that the Covid-19 pandemic. It was not easy to take multiple political parties together – from Parliament to the panchayat level – to fight the pandemic. This is the biggest success story and example of the leadership of PM Modi,” Shah said.

According to a Niti Aayog report, in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, India administered more than 220 crore doses of made-in-India vaccines to its citizens, and shared vaccines with more than 100 countries. Indian vaccines utilized practically all the platforms including mRNA, DNA, Adeno-viral and inactivated virus systems.

Drugs made in India were exported across the world. Nearly 250 made-in-India COVID-19 diagnostic tests were approved, it added.