New Delhi: The BJP hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation Thursday on the pandemic. It said Modi spoke to people like a farsighted leader and gave ‘inspiring’ suggestions, with several Congress leaders also offering their support to his call.
BJP president JP Nadda said crores of party workers will help in implementing Modi’s suggestions, including a ‘Janta Curfew’ Sunday, while Union minister Prakash Javadekar hailed the prime minister, and said he spoke like a foresighted leader and expressed confidence that people will adhere to his appeals.
Congress leader P Chidambaram said he is ‘duty-bound’ to support the prime minister. “I am duty-bound to support the PM. In effect, the PM has asked the people to wage the war against COVID-19 with moral armaments. We shall do so Sunday and in the following days,” Chidambaram stated.
“I have the feeling that the PM will come back in the next few days to announce tougher social and economic measures,” he added.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the suggestions offered by Modi to combat the pandemic are ‘inspiring and necessary’ and asked people to follow them.
Congress leader Manish Tewari said Modi’s address underscores both seriousness and in a sense ‘helplessness’ of the government.
“It is perfectly understandable given the evolving situation sans a vaccine. Reassurance with regard to health infrastructure in addition to preventive measures would have been helpful,” tweeted Tewari.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, however, criticised Modi’s broadcast, and said it is unfortunate that he did not spell out in this ‘much advertised’ address anything about the government’s preparations and actions taken to help people fight the coronavirus pandemic.
“It is clear that the poor and the marginalised will suffer the most due to the shutdown. What is the government doing about making surplus food grains available to the marginalised sections? This ‘Janta Curfew’ notwithstanding, will the door-to-door enumeration for the NPR which the government in its affidavit said is linked to NRC, proceed? Why was PM silent on this?” asked Yetchury.
Meanwhile other Congress leaders also asserted that it will support every effort of the government in the battle against the coronavirus.
Senior spokesperson of the opposition party Ajay Maken suggested creation of more testing facilities and conducting more tests in the country, while noting that there should be no shortage of any protective equipment for those engaged in combatting the virus.
Alleging that Modi’s address to the nation on combating the novel coronavirus had a ‘hidden hindutva agenda’, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said Thursday that the PM failed to give any direction on how to tackle the pandemic.
The remark was made by Mamata Banerjee’s Cabinet minister Subrata Mukherjee minutes after the PM’s address. “He (Modi) has failed to provide a direction to the nation in combating the pandemic. There are no proper proposals to tackle it. Rather he was speaking of ringing bells, this is absurd. How will you combat coronavirus by ringing bells? There is a hidden agenda of Hindutva and RSS in his speech. We condemn such an approach during this national crisis,” Mukherjee, a senior TMC leader, said.
Agencies