He  was always at the frontline shielding the Modi-led Government’s Covid-19 management and Covid-19 vaccination policy, but  it did not help Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, also known as the “good doctor” to save  his position in the Cabinet.

On Wednesday, he paid the price for India’s under preparedness to meet the second Covid surge. While few could absolve him of the overall failure of the Government in tackling the pandemic, many will wonder why he was singled out when the PMO and NITI Aayog were equally involved in dealing with Covid-19 management.

His sacking from the Cabinet has come as a surprise to many as Modi had praised the Health Ministry on various forums for its quick decisions regarding the management of the pandemic. Apart from health, Dr Vardhan also held two Ministries — science and technology and earth sciences.

The resignation is seen by the Government’s critics as an admission that the pandemic could have been managed well by the Government.

While Opposition political parties said he was made scapegoat for overall failure of the Modi Government’s handling in the pandemic which left over three crore infected and over 4 lakhs dead. After quitting, former Health Minister Dr Vardhan found Congress leaders supporting him as Jairam Ramesh said “the good man” has been made the scapegoat.

Ramesh took to Twitter and said he has been made a scapegoat for “monumental failures at the highest level — nowhere else”. The Congress leader also said the former Health Minister is a good man.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala too extended defence for Dr Vardhan and said the National Disaster Management Authority, headed by PM Modi, is responsible for the criminal mismanagement of Covid-19. “Will the PM take responsibility for his failures? Or, will the PM only make Dr Vardhan the scapegoat for PM’s failures?” Surjewala tweeted.

In his second stint as the Health Minister, Dr Vardhan, who is an ENT surgeon, also became a member of the World Health Organization executive board.

He had earned his reputation by pioneering the Polio Immunisation Campaign during his term as Delhi’s first Health Minister between 1993 and 98.

However, as the pandemic battered India with a second wave, the Health Minister appeared to be losing his temper over criticism of the Covid-19 management and vaccination drive.

For instance, he slammed former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the latter advised him how to go about vaccination drives.

“History shall be kinder to you Dr Manmohan Singh if your offer of ‘constructive cooperation and valuable advice was followed by your leaders as well in such extraordinary times,” he wrote to Dr Singh.

The vaccination drive itself has been dogged by controversies: First over the approval of the home-grown Covaxin, developed by Bharat Biotech and the National Institute of Virology, and later over the pace of the inoculation.

He also slammed the Governments of Punjab, Delhi, and Maharashtra - all Opposition-ruled States - of being sluggish in vaccinating healthcare workers and frontline workers, for whom the vaccination drive had begun in January.

When Maharashtra raised the issue of vaccine shortages, Dr Vardhan hit back, accusing the State of trying to distract attention from their “repeated failures” to control the spread of the pandemic.

The Health Minister has also been in the midst of controversies. Dr Vardhan was in the eye of a storm when he tried to attribute comments on Vedas having a better theory than the Theory of Relativity to physicist Stephen Hawking.

He was also caught in an embarrassing episode after he graced an event to launch Coronil, developed by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved. Ramdev had claimed that Coronil would cure Covid-19 but presented no study to back his claim.

The Indian Medical Association had expressed shock at the presence of Dr Vardhan at the event, where Patanjali claimed WHO certification for Coronil. The FAIMA, a medical body of junior doctors, said they were hardly bothered by the Minister’s resignation. “He never took a stand for us. He was silent when the doctors were being attacked by patients during Covid duty as well as when Ram Dev casted doubts on our professions,” said Dr Manish Jhangra, founder of Faima.

However, Vir Singhavi, a well known columnist felt he was punished for political gains. He tweeted, “If the PM believes that Vardhan handled the pandemic badly he should have replaced him months ago when lives could have been saved. What’s the point sacking him now?”

“And what about VK Paul etc who screwed up our vaccine strategy? They are still in place to do more damage,” Singhavi said.

Subramanian Swamy, BJP heavyweight, tweeted, “Not Health Ministry but a crisis management committee for vaccine availability. Vardhan was our best and the most straightforward Minister and therefore I would never suggest he should go.”