‘Restart economy to avoid bigger catastrophe’: Rahul Gandhi to Govt amid COVID-19 crisis

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday, in a special briefing on the current situation in the country amidst the Coronavirus pandemic, warned that the economy needs to be restarted as early as possible to avoid an even bigger catastrophe.

He said the Government needs to develop a strategy to deal with the economic situation due to the lockdown, for which the Congress party is ready to help by providing the aid of its economic experts.

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“We have been having an internal discussion about some of our suggestions to the government. I want to share some of the ideas with you, in our spirit to help the Central government and to provide some input from our side,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leader called for the formulation of a financial package for small-medium businesses, get money in the hands of the poorest, have a strategy for migrants and start planning properly for the lifting of the lockdown that has been in place since March 25.

“You (Govt) have to take care of big and small businesses alike because everything is connected. If you want to start the engine, you cannot think of starting just one part of the engine.”

“You need to create demand, put money in the system, put money in poor people’s hands, help MSMEs and make sure you are protecting some of the larger players because these are all interconnected,” Rahul Gandhi said in his address.

Reminding that the country has been in lockdown for 45 days, Rahul Gandhi said it is beginning to run into a little bit of a problem.

He said the Government simply cannot continue without providing support to the people who are suffering as a result of the lockdown.

Gandhi urged the Union government to take the UPA’s idea of NYAY and start putting money directly into the hands of 50 per cent of India’s poor households which would amount to about Rs 65,000 Crore.

Regarding the transfer of migrants to their homes, Gandhi said that a conversation between states has to happen and these decisions have to be made with empathy towards migrants, and the Centre has to oversee.

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi further reiterated his request to the Centre that it should view state governments and district magistrates as partners and not centralise the decision making process.

Since the lockdown was imposed in the country, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress have been offering the Central government some tips to deal with the crisis situation.

Earlier, Gandhi also had video conversations with former RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on the economic fallout of the Coronavirus crisis and ways to revive Indian economy.