Anti-vaccine policy posters: Delhi Police say action as per lockdown guidelines, probe leads to AAP workers

As Opposition parties target the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre over the arrests made in connection with posters criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vaccine policy, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), while taking responsibility for the posters, alleged Delhi police had harassed party workers.

Hundreds of digitally printed posters, reading “Modiji hamare bachchon ki vaccine videsh kyon bhej diya?” (Modiji, why did you send vaccines meant for our children abroad?) were found pasted in east Delhi’s Kalyanpuri area on May 12.

Senior AAP leader and MCD incharge Durgesh Pathak took the responsibility for the posters and alleged harassment of AAP workers at the hands of Delhi police over the issue.

“I would like to tell the Delhi Police and the BJP that you cannot arrest somebody for asking such questions because we live in a democracy. But despite this if you want to arrest, then we would like to tell you that these posters were put up by AAP, by me. If you want to arrest, then arrest us, arrest our MLAs. But please stop harassing poor people,” Pathak said alleging that at least 500 AAP workers were detained by Delhi police in connection with the posters.

मोदी जी, ये पोस्टर पूरी दिल्ली में आम आदमी पार्टी ने लगवाए हैं।

अगर गिरफ्तार करना है तो मुझे गिरफ्तार करो।

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

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How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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जबरदस्ती बेगुनाह गरीब लोगों को इसमें मत घसीटो।

लेकिन हम तो जवाब मिलने तक पूछते रहेंगे - "मोदी जी, हमारे बच्चों की वैक्सीन विदेश क्यों भेज दिया?" pic.twitter.com/BADCaTsH0K

— Durgesh Pathak (@ipathak25) May 16, 2021

Police said on May 16 that their probe revealed that AAP workers in South, West and East Delhi had got these printed and pasted. As many as 25 people were arrested till May 15 in connection with cases registered at different police stations across the city under the Delhi Disaster Management Act, the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. Police said the action was taken to enforce the lockdown guidelines.

“Posters in east Delhi were digitally prepared by Rahul Kumar, a resident of Mangolpuri who runs a graphics designing shop by the name of Mamta Graphics at his house. Rahul made a digital copy of these posters as per an image received from AAP worker Arvind Gautam, a resident of Sultanpuri Majra. Gautam paid ₹9,000 for printing and pasting these posters. Rahul placed an order via email with one Rajesh Sharma, 48, owner of Addline Printing Press and a resident of Mangopuri, to get the posters printed,” police said in a statement.

Some FIRs have sections under the Press and Registration of Books Act, Section 269 of the IPC (whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life) and Section 34 of the IPC(common intention), according to a report in  the Hindu.

The Delhi Police, which reports to Union Home Ministry, has often been at odds with the elected AAP government of Delhi. The fresh war of words between AAP and Delhi Police comes amid a backlash from the Opposition parties over the arrest of people, most of whom were auto rickshaw drivers, shop owners, daily wage labourers and unemployed people, according to reports,

Top leaders including Congress' Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Jairam Ramesh, and leaders from Other parties like the Trinamool Congress, tweeted the text of the poster and dared the Centre to arrest them.

Gandhi attached a digital version of the poster to his Twitter handle and said “arrest me too”.

Arrest me too.

मुझे भी गिरफ़्तार करो। pic.twitter.com/eZWp2NYysZ

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 16, 2021

Ramesh said he will put up those posters in front of his official bungalow in Lodhi Estate to show solidarity with the protesters.

Putting up critical posters against PM is now a crime? Is India run by the Modi Penal Code now? Is the Delhi Police so jobless in the middle of a raging pandemic??

I am putting up posters on my compound wall tomorrow. Come get me.@DelhiPolice @AmitShah https://t.co/cFH8Tdh93p

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) May 15, 2021

“Putting up critical posters against PM is now a crime? Is India run by the Modi Penal Code now? Is the Delhi Police so jobless in the middle of a raging pandemic?? I am putting up posters on my compound wall tomorrow. Come get me,” he tweeted, tagging the Delhi Police and Union home minister Amit Shah.

This at a time when the country is facing shortage of COVID-19 vaccines. In Delhi, for example, the state government-run vaccine centres inoculating health care workers, frontline workers and those aged 45 and above only have Covaxin doses left for another day, the Delhi government said in its vaccine bulletin on May 16.

Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday tweeted: “Who sold vaccines meant for our children to other countries for event management?”

हमारे बच्चों की वैक्सीन इमेज मैनेजमेंट के लिए विदेशों में किसने बेच दी ?

— Manish Sisodia (@msisodia) May 16, 2021

Later in the evening, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted against indulging in blamegame at a time when the country is battling COVID-19 pandemic.

करोना ने क़हर ढाया हुआ है। लोग बहुत दुःखी हैं। ये वक्त एक दूसरे पर उँगली उठाने का नहीं, बल्कि एक दूसरे को सहारा देने का है

मेरी “आप” के हर कार्यकर्ता से अपील है की वे जहां भी हैं, अपने आस पास के लोगों की तन, मन, धन से भरपूर मदद करें। इस वक्त यही सच्ची देशभक्ति है, यही धरम है

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 16, 2021