Fact Check: It is not true that Muslims in Rajasthan are being favoured over Hindu refugees from Pak
In Rajasthan, vaccines are only being provided to Muslims while Hindu refugees from Pakistan are not getting the vaccines.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 22 Jun 2021 4:20 AM GMT
Hyderabad: A post on social media is doing rounds claiming that in Rajasthan, vaccines are only being provided to Muslims while Hindu refugees from Pakistan are not getting the vaccines. The claim has been also shared by national spokesperson of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) Vijay Shankar Tiwari.
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Fact Check:
The viral claim that Muslims in Rajasthan are being favoured over Hindu refugees from Pakistan is misleading.
When NewsMeter searched for the news reports to confirm the claim, we found a report published by Outlook on 5 June, which stated that the Rohingya Muslim refugees in Jaipur were ineligible for vaccination due to the unavailability of an Aadhaar card. However, they have a valid registration card allotted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The report also quoted Bramer collector Lok Bandhu, who said, "We have set up a special camp to vaccinate those Pakistani Hindu migrants who do not have Aadhaar cards. So far, we have vaccinated 18 such migrants falling in the age group above 45 years. We will soon vaccinate the rest, who fall under the category of 18-45 years."
Secondly, On 9 June, Outlook reported that the Hindu refugees from Pakistan were also not getting vaccinated because of not having an Aadhaar card or other prescribed documents. Subsequently, after the Rajasthan High Court's order on 28 May, the state started vaccinating everyone.
Further, the reports said the high court said that according to the Central government's standard operating procedure (SOP) issued on 6 May, the Pakistani refugees are eligible for COVID vaccination.
Further, The Quint had quoted Dr Raghuraj Singh, project director (immunization) who said that the claim is false and the state has begun vaccinating all its population, irrespective of them having any documents or not.
Searching with keywords on Google, we did not find any media reports that said a special vaccination drive was arranged in Rajasthan.
Hence, the claim is misleading.
