Covid-19 crisis | Modi has no place for professionals: Congress on Shahid Jameel resignation

Dr Shahid Jameel, one of India’s best virologists, quit as the chair of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia

The Congress on Monday targeted the Narendra Modi government over the resignation of top virologist Shahid Jameel as the chair of a group of scientific advisers to detect coronavirus variants in the country.

“The resignation of Dr Shahid Jameel, one of India’s best virologists, is really sad. Modi Sarkar has no place for professionals who can speak their mind freely without fear or favour,” senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said.

Read | Virologist Shahid Jameel resigns from INSACOG Science Advisory Chair

Jameel quit as the chair of Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia — a 10-laboratory consortium tasked to carry out genetic sequences of different variants of the coronavirus in India.

The resignation came within days of publication of an article by Jameel in The New York Times, in which the virologist wrote that his fellow scientists “are facing stubborn resistance to evidence-based policymaking” in India.