Rahul Gandhi has again stressed the need to decentralise and broadbase the anti-corona strategy, declaring that India will lose the battle if it is confined to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Addressing a media conference on Friday, Rahul expressed the fear that India was “beginning to get into a problem” in the context of the economy and the survival of the poor, and demanded an immediate exit strategy no matter what the trajectory of the coronavirus infection is.
He said if money was not transferred to the accounts of around 50 per cent of the population and a package not delivered to the small and medium enterprises without any further delay, there would be nothing left to protect later.
Asked about the concentration of power and strategy-making in one “strong person” in an obvious reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rahul said: “That is the Prime Minister’s style. But in such a situation, I would prefer several strong chief ministers, one strong Prime Minister, many strong district magistrates and collectors. At every level, a strong Indian should be standing against the disease, be it a DM, a farmer… anybody.”
He continued: “I will give you a small example. This classification of zones into red, orange and green has been done at the Centre. This should have been done in the states, by the chief ministers in consultation with the DMs. They have the right kind of information. They could have done better… ask a businessman. There is a clash between supply chains and health care. If you open the industry in green zone and the supply chain passes through orange and red zone… this has to be resolved.”
In response to another question, he said: “This is not a normal situation. If the strategy is restricted to the PMO, we will lose the battle. Devolve power, take it to the DMs. Centralisation of authority will result in calamity. The Prime Minister will have to trust the chief ministers.”
He insisted that all the states were in financial distress and the feeling among the BJP chief ministers was similar to the Opposition chief ministers.
Contending that the nation would have to rise above partisan biases and jointly fight this battle as Indians, the former Congress president said: “This government does not talk to the Opposition; that’s their style. No problem, we have accepted it. But we are doing our job of helping the government in a constructive spirit and we will continue doing it.”
To a question about the post-May 17 scenario, Rahul said: “The central issue is that the government needs to bring transparency in actions. They should tell the nation when they will open, what are the criteria, which boxes they want ticked off for ending the lockdown. People are suffering a lot. You have to have a strategy for opening up; it is not an on-off switch. It is a transition. It is a serious challenge. View state governments as partners; there has to be a coordination between the PM, CMs and DMs.”
He suggested creating a psychological change as ending the prevailing fear psychosis is a must.
Rahul said: “The disease is dangerous for older people, persons with diabetes, lung problem, hypertension. But for healthy people, it is not dangerous. It is dangerous for 1 or 2 per cent of people but 99 per cent are not going to die of this disease. Before opening up, to restore economic activity, we need to change the fear into confidence.”
Asked why he was insisting on a package and why the government was reluctant, he said: “Because businesses are collapsing. The economy has stopped. There will be a catastrophe if the government does not help. I know the government is fearing a downgrade but I believe it should take the risk and move aggressively to protect the fundamentals of our economy. Generate demand, start domestic consumption. I am afraid we are losing time. Act now, or there will be no economy to protect later.”
Rahul also spoke for big businesses, arguing that the MSME sector was linked to their operations. He said the government needs to have a systemic thinking as big businesses too cannot be left to their own devices.
