'Modiji Why Did You Send Our Children's Vaccine Abroad?': 25 Arrested In Delhi Over Anti-PM Posters

The Delhi police arrested at least 25 people for allegedly pasting posters that criticised the Narendra Modi-led central government's decision to send vaccines abroad without securing the domestic population.

The Delhi police started arresting people from May 12 over posters that read: "Modi Ji hamare bachon ki vaccine Videsh Kyon bhej diya (Why did you send our children's vaccines abroad?)" after Special Branch informed Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava.

According to The Indian Express, daily wage labourers, auto-rickshaw drivers, and a 61-year-old carpenter are among those who were arrested.

According to the report, these people had no idea about the content and pasted the posters just to earn some money.

Rahul Tyagi (24) told The Indian Express that he was given 20 banners by staff at AAP councillor Dhirender Kumar's office on May 11 and had promised ₹600 for sticking them in the Kalyanpuri area.

Councillor Kumar has denied the allegations and said that he was only involved in "working for the people". The Aam Aadmi Party has so far not responded to the allegations. However, on Saturday night, the party, from its official Twitter handle, tweeted the same line.

Tyagi said that they did not get the promised money, and on the other hand, the police took down the posters, and his bike is still there in the police station.

According to the Delhi police, most of the arrested people are involved in poster printing and sticking work. The investigation is still on to apprehend who told them to paste this poster. All those arrested have been released on bail, said a senior officer.

The arrests come at a time when the pandemic is far from over, and efforts to break the chain are still going on.

Recently several experts had called out the Modi government for projecting India's image as a powerful nation on the world stage but not securing the healthcare of Indians. "The Indian government also adopted a lackadaisical approach and overestimated the country's capacity to produce COVID-19 vaccines – even when information to the contrary was readily available," pharmaceutical industry expert Neet Sanghi wrote in The Wire.

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