Union minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday described Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s news conference as an example of how the Congress is politicising the Covid-19 pandemic at a time when the whole country is fighting it.
“He gave a wrong statement, I want to tell him, when the lockdown was imposed, the doubling rate of infection was three days. Now, the infection takes 13 days to double. This is India’s success and everyone’s success,” Javadekar said.
Javadekar, who holds the portfolio of information and broadcasting and environment and forests, accused the Congress of double speak and said the party has only been critical of the government’s decisions at a time when the rest of the world has praised steps taken by India to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
“When the lockdown was imposed, the Congress was upset why it was imposed across the country, the economy will be destroyed. They opposed the imposition of the lockdown and now are opposing the relaxation. This is their double speak,” he said.
“Compared to the losses faced by America, France, Britain, Spain, Italy, Iran, Brazil, and China, India has been relatively less affected and for this, the whole world is praising India, that they imposed the lockdown at the right time.”
Javadekar countered the accusation that the government had failed to address concerns of migrant workers, and said 300,000 workers were safely transported in 3,000 trains special by the government.
“It is a historic step. Uttar Pradesh and Karanataka made cash transfers and gave money to the workers, which Congress ruled state is doing this? I don’t want to argue on this, because it is a time of national calamity. But people will not listen to lies anymore,” he said.
“They (the Congress) are asking for Rs7,500 per person, we have offered 80 crore people 25kg of rice and 5kg of dal for five months free. Ten crore migrants workers with no ration cards have been given 10kg of grain and 2kg of dal for free. Twenty crore women got Rs500 per month and nine crore farmers got Rs2,000 in their accounts, eight crore households got three gas cylinders free, and 50 lakh street vendors have got money too,” he said, elaborating on the steps taken by the government.