Rahul Gandhi attacked the government for its stance on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Modi government was slammed for its decision to continue with the nationwide lockdown and the strategy of handling the coronavirus crisis. Rahul stated that the nationwide lockdown in India has failed to meet its purpose as the coronavirus cases spiked in this period.
On Tuesday, Rahul held a live press conference through his Twitter account. The Congress leader stated that, "The lockdown in India failed. What PM Modi expected from the lockdown, results have not been like that."
He asked how is the Govt thinking about supporting migrants, state governments, MSMEs?
While referring to the recent Central financial package, Rahul stated that the package accounted for less than 1 per cent of GDP, and most of it is in loans. He added that there is hardly any cash given and it is difficult for the states to actually sustain this way without proper support.
According to the former Congress President, he is in constant touch with the Chief Ministers of states and they have said that the states "have been fighting a lone battle."
Rahul said that the migrants have told him over zoom calls that, "Our trust has been broken." He further said that, "I don't like hearing those words from anyone, no matter if he is rich or poor."
Earlier, the Modi Govt was attacked by Congress President Sonia Gandhi when she questioned the Govt's policies with regard to the COVID-19 challenge. She had said that the Centre was uncertain about the criteria for lockdowns and did not have an exit strategy.
Gandhi, in her opening comments at a meeting of 22 like-minded parties held through video-conferencing, remarked, "That the present government's no solutions for the current scenario is worrying, but that it has no empathy or compassion for the poor and vulnerable is heartbreaking."
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Development, by Tuesday, India has registered 6,535 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, taking total number of cases to 1,45,380.
In the last one day, the country recorded another 146 deaths. The total reported deaths due to coronavirus are 4,167.
