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Describing the ongoing lockdown as a “pause button”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday said it will not defeat the coronavirus, and the government must ramp up testing and use it as a “strategic weapon” to identify and isolate hotspots while strategically re-opening “key areas”. He urged the government not to fall into a “victory declaration” mindset, saying any such premature announcement could be fatal.
Calling for a united fight against the pandemic, Gandhi told reporters via video-conference that his remarks should be taken in the spirit of constructive support and advice, and not criticism. “We are in a very serious situation. I think all political parties have to work together and the people of India have to work together, if we want to solve this problem and defeat this virus.”
He said he still disagrees with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on many issues but this is not the time to “fight” or indulge in “tu tu mein mein”.
While urging the government to be “much more liberal with the amount of money” being given to the people, Gandhi cautioned the government against using up all its resources now. “Do not use all your ammunition right now. Because if we use all our ammunition right now and we end up two-three months from now with a serious financial blowback… we have a real serious problem. So, it has to be a thought through strategic way of doing it,” he said.
He warned that the country could face food shortage and massive unemployment in the coming days and asked the central government to pre-emptively address these challenges. He said the fight against COVID-19 should not be “top down but bottom up” and asked the Prime Minister to empower Chief Ministers and district administrations and communicate more openly with them.
He said the lockdown is like a “pause button” and in no way a solution to the virus. “When we come out of the lockdown, the virus is going to start its work again. So it is very important that we have a strategy to come out of the lockdown. the lockdown allows you the time and space to put in medical resources, to ramp up your testing ability, to prepare your hospitals, to get ventilators, to create the type of architecture that is required to fight the virus when it picks up again.”
“You open particular key areas. You use testing to identify dynamically which are the hotspots and clamp down on those hotspots… Create two basic zones in India. A hotspot zone and a non-hot spot zone.” On the financial front, he said “there is going to be a massive financial backlash that is going to come. You are going to see the first waves of unemployment and then that will start to spiral. You will see pressure coming on our financial system. So you will have to set up structures and manage your funding so that you don’t get caught… Suppose you spend all your money right now immediately and then you have a financial crisis later in a few months… So, you have to think strategically and you have to move strategically.”
Maintaining that the country has adequate foodgrain stock, he asked the government to distribute it among the poor and even those without ration cards. “Create a food safety net for them… transfer money to the bank accounts of 20 per cent poorest of the poor… create a financial safety net for them. There would be unemployment… come out with a package to protect the MSME sector,” he said.
On the issue of stranded migrants in various states, Gandhi said the “government must act quickly, else there will be social unrest soon”.
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