New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi must come forward and address the countrymen to enlighten them on the way ahead in dealing with the coronavirus and economic situation.
Asking when the lockdown will finally end, Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the prime minister must also lay out the exit strategy from it and spell out the goalpost in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic and economy.
Accusing the government of not handling the issue of migrant labourers in a humane or compassionate manner, he urged the prime minister and the Centre to ferry them to their home in sanitised trains for free, along with food. “Will we see another lockdown? When will the lockdown finally end? The prime minister must come forward and address 130 crore Indians and enlighten them on the way ahead,” Surjewala told reporters at a press briefing through video-conferencing.
The Congress also posed a set of five questions to the government and a set of seven suggestions, including some they have already made to support migrant labourers, provide food and cash to the poor.
Surjewala said the home ministry issued an order late on Friday evening, extending the lockdown till May 17, but neither the prime minister nor the home minister came forward to address the nation.
“The fight against corona shall have to be fought unitedly and not in a unitary fashion,” he said.
Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram also said it was intriguing that the prime minister stayed away from the announcement on national television and left it to a notification issued by the home secretary.
“Unlike Lockdown 1.0 and 2.0, no objectives were spelt out for Lockdown 3.0. We think the government is obliged to spell out the objectives and the course of action after May 17.
“If the objectives are achieved, what is the course of action? If the objectives are not achieved, what is the course of action? The people wait for answers,” the former finance minister said in a series of tweets. (PTI)
