Nadda launches Ayushman Bharat scheme

Cuttack (Odisha), Apr 11: Union Health Minister J P Nadda on Friday launched the Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Odisha, and expressed hope that the central health insurance scheme will soon be implemented in neighbouring West Bengal - the only state where it is still not in force.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme was implemented in Odisha 10 months after the BJP came to power in the state, while assembly elections are due in West Bengal, currently ruled by the Trinamool Congress, in 2026.

Asserting that the BJP government has fulfilled its promises given to the people of Odisha, Nadda said the TMC government in West Bengal continued to reject the Centre’s appeal to implement Ayushman Bharat scheme. “Time has now come for lotus to bloom there (WB) and Ayushman will be implemented,” he said.

“There were three states - Odisha, Delhi and West Bengal - where the Ayushman Bharat scheme was not implemented. However, the scheme came into operation in Odisha and Delhi after the change of government in these states. The people of Bengal will also get the facility and the BJP is committed to provide this health scheme to all the citizens of India,” he said.

Nadda claimed that the state governments which put hurdles before implementation of the Narendra Modi government’s welfare schemes have paid a price.

"The people have rejected the governments in Odisha and also in Delhi,” he said.

The BJP in February returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years defeating the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority.

Nadda recalled how he, as a Union health minister, had appealed to both Naveen Patnaik and Aravind Kejriwal, erstwhile CMs of Odisha and Delhi respectively, to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme but got rejected.

“We have requested Naveen Babu several times, but he claimed that his BJD government’s health scheme was better than Ayushman Bharat. Similar was the case of Kejriwal,” he said.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Ayushman Bharat Scheme at Ranchi in September 2018. However, three states refused to implement it and two of them have been ousted from power by the people.