Cong-NCP slam PM Modi for appeal to light lamps, say ‘event management’ not needed

Two of the ruling parties which make up the coalition government in Maharashtra—the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have taken a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his appeal to light diyas and candles on Sunday to show solidarity for health workers. The political parties have said that when the prime minister was expected to speak about the measures being taken by the central government to fight Covid-19 effectively, he has resorted to ‘event management’.

Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said that the Bharatiya Janata Party is addicted to making an event out of any major issue that the country comes across. “We had expected that the prime minister will stand firm by the doctors, medical staff and police force fighting against the pandemic from the frontline. He should have unveiled a plan of providing additional testing labs, ventilators and financial assistance to states in their fight against the coronavirus. Instead of this, the PM has been engaged in event managements like clapping, banging utensils and lighting lamps,” he said.

Thorat said that Modi’s appeal is unfortunately unbecoming of a leader who is the prime minister of the country. “The BJP has failed to show strong leadership which is needed during these challenging times,” he added.

NCP’s spokesperson and state minorities minister Nawab Malik said that the nation expected the PM to speak about how to keep the home fires burning, but he spoke about lighting lamps. “The 9-am address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has disappointed citizens in the country, ” he said.

State housing minister and senior NCP leader Jitendra Awhad has called it ‘stupidity’. “Is this some kind of a joke? The PM is not saying a word on where the country stands in this war against coronavirus, what are the preparations, what financial aides are being given to states, what are the facilities being created to combat the virus. He should have spoken about the diagnostic centres added and the problems being faced by migrants. When other countries are engaged in production of necessary medical equipment and inventing vaccines, our prime minister is busy giving people ‘sedatives’ like lighting lamps and banging thalis,” he said.

But, NCP MLA and party chief Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar has expressed contrary views to that of his party colleagues. “Prime Minister @narendramodi ji is aiming to bring the country together through lights and if so, we should welcome this thought. Likewise, as a citizen of this country I urge you to place the flag of our country as a DP of your social media accounts for a message of solidarity(sic),” Rohit has tweeted.

Reacting to the allegations, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Madhu Chavan said, “It is a gesture to create a feeling of unity among the people of the country. During the 1965 war, then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had appealed to people to observe a fast for one day in solidarity with the people who couldn’t get food to eat. The entire nation stood by him. Congress and NCP leaders are criticising the PM for not talking about the preparations by the central government. I want to ask you, what contribution has the state government made in this fight against Covid-19?”