‘Crime against humanity’: Priyanka Gandhi accuses Fadnavis of hoarding Remdesivir

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday accused former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of hoarding Remdesivir, saying a BJP leader holding on to the drug at a time when people are scrambling to arrange it is a “crime against humanity”. Taking to Twitter, the Congress general secretary tagged a video of top Maharashtra BJP leaders, including Fadnavis, arguing with police officials after the Mumbai Police questioned a pharma company director following information that thousands of vials of the Remdesivir drug, critical in COVID-19 treatment, were to be flown out of the country. “At a time when people from every corner of the country are requesting for being provided with Remdesivir, and many are struggling to procure a bottle of Remdesivir to save their lives, a BJP leader, who was in responsible position, hoarding Remdesivir is a crime against humanity,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

The Mumbai Police on Sunday said they had information that the Remdesivir stock was going to be flown abroad as air cargo, despite a ban on the export of the drug. While Leader of Opposition Fadnavis claimed the director was picked up because the BJP managed to get permissions in place for the supply of the drug to Maharashtra, activist Saket Gokhale wondered how did a “private individual like Fadnavis” procure Remdesivir stock from Gujarat when the sale is allowed only to the government. The BJP objected to the pharma executive’s grilling by the police, saying the state government was playing politics amid the pandemic.

On learning that the pharma company director was being quizzed, Fadnavis and another state BJP leader Pravin Darekar rushed to the police station.