All 645 evacuated from Wuhan test negative for virus

NEW DELHI: All 645 Indians, who were evacuated from the central Chinese city of Wuhan and were quarantined after their return to India, have tested negative for thenovelcoronavirus,theUnion health ministry said on Thursday. Ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said apart from those evacuated, 10 other Indians have indicated they want to return from China, but were unable to clear the health screening process.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched a scathing attack on theOpposition, blamingtheCongress and the Left parties for hiding behind the Constitution to encourage those who were violating it, reading out quotes from threeformerJammu&Kashmir chief ministers to justify their preventive detentions, terming the anti-CAA protests as anarchic, and staunchly defending the changed citizenship law by highlightingtheplightofminorities in Pakistan.

The Prime Minister, at the same time, called for the ongoing Parliament session to be “dedicated” to the economy while saying that its fundamentals – from fiscal deficit targets to manageable inflation to macroeconomic stability – were strong.

Modi also spoke in the Rajya Sabha later — the first time he addressed both houses of Parliament in the same day — focussingmoredeeplyontheeconomy and bringing in the National Population Register (NPR) into the discussion by asking Oppositionleadersnotto“mislead” people by “lying” about what he called a “regulation administrative process”.

In a fiery Lok Sabha speech often interrupted by objections and interjections from the Opposition benches, Modi, in his reply totheMotionofThanks byPresident Ram Nath Kovind, said:

"Who made Kashmir only about land grabbing? Who made Kashmir's identity only about bombs and guns? Can anyone forget that dark night of January [wh hen Kashmiri Pandits began leaving J&K]? In reality, Kashm iri identity is closely linked with harmony.”

"The people of India have not only ch anged the sarkar [govt]. They want the 'sarokar' [condu uct] to be changed as well. If we had worked according to o ld ways, Article 370 would never have been history... Musl lim women would have been suffering due to Trip ple Talaq.”

"We have taken many initiatives in indus stry, irrigation, social infrastructure, rural infrastructure, and water ways. Let's mo ove ahead to make India a $5 trillion econom my.”

“The people who are trying to lecture us to save the Constitution, need to repeat their own words to themselves. These are thesamepeoplewhoimposedthe Emergency, tried to take judicial rights away from the Supreme Court, tried to end the right to life, made the most changes in the Constitution, dismissed state governments dozens of times, tore Cabinet decisions in press conferences,andputuparemote controlabovetheprimeminister and the PMO.”