Vaccine Action Plan of another time when politics wasn't war DELHI DIARIES: In Assam and Karnataka, the blame game is on Lost balance Advertisement There was a time when politics in India was not a hateful war. While political parties had ups and downs in their personal relations, meaningful systemic engagements never got disrupted between the Centre and state governments. When, as the prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi undertook the Vaccine Action Programme in the country on a war footing, the Central team received better cooperation from Opposition-ruled states. Chief ministers like Jyoti Basu in West Bengal, RM Hegde in Karnataka, NT Rama Rao in Andhra Pradesh, and EK Nayanar in Kerala responded to the plan which did not have mass support with greater enthusiasm than Congress-ruled states. They helped in creating awareness among the people which was a gigantic task given the absence of communication tools. State instruments — Doordarshan and All India Radio — played a vital role along with local language media in states. The vaccination drive became a thundering success.