Congress leader Rahul Gandhi held an online interaction with the Managing Director of Bajaj Autos Rajiv Bajaj as part of his series on economic impact of the coronavirus in India.

Watch: In conversation with Mr Rajiv Bajaj on the Covid19 crisis. https://t.co/wLwUpAwxDd

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) June 4, 2020

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The industrialist criticised the unique nature of lockdown imposed in the country which was not seen anywhere else in the world. “The way India has been locked down is a draconian lockdown. This kind of lockdown, I’m not hearing about from anywhere else,” he said.

“It (lockdown) was also imposed suddenly. The bitter-sweet thing you said is shocking to me. See, rich people can deal with it as they have a home, a comfortable atmosphere, but it is completely devastating for the poor people and migrants,” said Gandhi.

Bajaj said the nationwide lockdown  to contain the coronavirus pandemic, has decimated the economy and exposed us to the “worst of both worlds”.

“But you have definitely decimated the economy. You flattened the wrong curve. It is not the infection curve, it is the GDP curve. This is what we have ended (up) with, the worst of both worlds,” he said.

“We tried to implement a hard lockdown which was still porous. So, I think we have ended up with the worst of both worlds. On one hand, a porous lockdown makes sure that the virus will still exist and as you said, it is still waiting to hit you when you will unlock. So, you have not solved that problem,” Bajaj said in the online chat aired this morning.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that the lockdown in India is the only kind in the world “where the disease is increasing after we are opening up.”

India is the seventh worst affected country by the pandemic with over 2.16 lakh cases of COVID-19.

Bajaj also mentioned instances of caning and other forms of “humiliation” faced by those who were found not wearing a mask. “Where is the proportion in the way we are treating our own people,” he asked.

Commenting on the way restrictions are being uplifted in the country, Bajaj said, “We are not seeing a smooth, concerted, rhythmic movement towards unlocking. Unfortunately, India not only looked west, it went to the wild west. I think we stayed more towards the impervious side.”

“We hear stories of people from Japan and USA getting 1,000 dollars per person as support, not as stimulus. We are not even talking about stimulus here. We are just talking about support, whether it is for big businesses, small business and for individuals,” he said.

In the first such dialogue Gandhi discussed the coronavirus pandemic and its economic implications with former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan where he had said India should be “cleverer” in lifting the lockdown and should open up its economy in a “measured way” soon to save jobs. The Member of Parliament from Wayanad also spoke with  Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee regarding last month.