Lockdown has failed in its purpose: Rahul
NEW DELHI: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the four phases of the nationwide lockdown have failed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic and claimed that the tally of cases is rising sharply, drawing a sharp and swift riposte from the government that he is politicising the public health crisis.
Gandhi also reiterated that the coronavirus disease outbreak and lockdown have multiplied the unemployment problem and forced many small and medium businesses to go bankrupt.
In his fourth video news conference since the lockdown came into effect on March 25, Gandhi urged the Centre to spell out its strategy for opening up the country. The current phase of the lockdown will end on May 31.
“On March 24, the PM said the war against coronavirus would be won in 21 days. Sixty days later, it is now clear that the lockdown has not been able to defeat the virus. Its aim and purpose have failed,” Gandhi said.
Maintaining that the number of new cases in many areas around the country is increasing exponentially, the Congress Lok Sabha member said it was clear that the Prime Minister and his advisors had underestimated the scale of battle against the disease.
“The Prime Minister was quick to take centre-stage in the early stages of this battle. But now, when his leadership is most needed, he has stepped back,” Gandhi said.
The government denied Gandhi’s claims. “He (Gandhi) gave a wrong statement. I want to tell him, when the lockdown was imposed the doubling rate of infection was three days; now the infection takes 13 days to double. This is India’s success and everyone’s success,” Union minister for information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar said.
The Congress leader also said the country risks facing a second wave of the pandemic which will be “extremely devastating” if the strategy is haphazard.
On the crisis of migrants, Gandhi urged the government to announce an immediate cash transfer of ~7,500 to them.
“They have a sense of hopelessness, they have been left alone. They have told me ‘hamara bharosa toot gaya’ (we have lost faith). I don’t like hearing those words. I don’t want a single Indian person to say those words. They are saying it more and more. Nobody should lose their faith,” he said.
Javadekar countered the charge that the government failed to address the concerns of the migrant workforce and said 300,000 workers had been safely transported in 3,000 special trains, and claimed that Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka (both ruled by the BJP) had given money to migrant workers.
Political analyst A Narayana of the Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University said, “He has also drawn the nation’s attention to the fact that the Centre is not financially helping states which are desperately trying to balance between tackling the pandemic and addressing its economic fallout. Possibly, Gandhi should do more than merely addressing press conferences to put pressure on the government,” he added.