August 2008: After Abu Bashar's arrest in Ahmedabad serial blast case by Gujarat Police, then UP Congress leader Ram Naresh Yadav reached Bashar's house and consoled his parents. He also reportedly promised that he would take this "wrongful arrest" matter to Congress high-command After 9 arrests in Ahmedabad serial blasts case including Abu, Lalu Prasad Yadav told media that innocent people were being targeted by Modi and Gujarat police and innocent people(like Abu Bashr )should not be arrested. He supported and maintained that ban on SIMI was unnecessary

We have to cover the vulnerable first.. Do we have even vaccines to cover everybody? Absolutely not. Nobody in the world has it. No country has it. We don't have it. Because we are talking about 1.3 billion people multiplied by two: Adar Poonawalla today

twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1… We have a capacity of 60 to 70 million doses which we hope to ramp up in next two to three months partly with govt proposal and through borrowing money from banks to build an additional plant and facility. Now that may take at least three months to churn out product: Poonawala