But party welcomes lockdown extension
The Congress on Tuesday launched a multi-pronged attack on the Modi Government for its handling of coronavirus crisis, even though it backed the extension of the ongoing lockdown till May 3.
While the party accused the Modi Government of not doing anything for the poor, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said India conducted far less Covid tests than even the poorest of the poor nations.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said the PM’s address was like “Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark.” “Amazing PM address. Exhortation, rhetoric, inspiration... yet hollow on specifics! No financial package, no details, no concrete item. Neither for poor nor for middle class, industry, businesses. Lockdown is good but cannot be end in itself! Where is single livelihood issue,” he asked.
“After this: should we pray? We want concrete palliatives for these deprived classes and even for middle class India and MSMEs,” he said.
Former Union Minister P Chidambaram too welcomed the extension of lockdown but added that the livelihood and survival of the poor was not amongst Government’s priorities. In a series of tweets posted on Tuesday, Chidambaram said no money has been added to States after the economic package announced on 25 March.
In an online Press conference, senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Manish Tewari told reporters that the Congress understands the inevitability of the lockdown and hence the party supports its extension. “But the Prime Minister did not address the concerns of the nation or said what the people wanted to hear about what the Union Government was doing for the people, Tewari said.
“Those migrants who had left for their hometowns have completed the necessary 14-day lockdown. What are you going to do about them? Are you going to let them go home? Is there a calibrated plan for travel arrangements to reach home,” Tewari added.
Stating that the country has very low level of testing for coronavirus infection, Rahul said with only 149 tests per million population, India is currently in the company of countries like Laos, Niger and Honduras.
“India delayed the purchase of testing kits & is now critically short of them,” Rahul said on Twitter.
“With just 149 tests per million Indians, we are now in the company of Laos (157), Niger (182) & Honduras (162).
“Mass testing is the key to fighting the virus. At present we are nowhere in the game,” he added in his tweet.
Taking on Modi over the seven-point strategy, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala questioned what was the Union Government’s roadmap for tackling the pandemic, access of healthcare workers to PPEs, for migrant labourers, agriculture, unemployment and micro small medium enterprises.