PM’s Package “Cruel Joke On Country”: Sonia Gandhi At Opposition Meet Lashed Out At The Government’s Virus Strategy

New Delhi: The government has abandoned any pretence of being democratic, has no compassion for the poor and has embarked on a “wild adventure of so-called reforms including a grand clearance sale of public sector units”, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said today in the first online meeting of opposition parties to discuss the coronavirus crisis.

“All power is now concentrated in one office, the PMO,” the Congress president said in a searing critique of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over its Covid response.

Stating that the economy was “gravely crippled”, the Congress chief said every economist of repute had advised an immediate need for a massive fiscal stimulus but “the Prime Minister’s announcement of a grand Rs 20 lakh crore package – and the Finance Minister spelling out its details over the next five days — have turned out to be a cruel joke on the country.”

Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda were among those who joined the zoom conference but prominent absentees included Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Arvind Kejriwal.

Sonia Gandhi lashed out at the government’s virus strategy and noted that successive lockdowns had delivered diminishing returns.

“The initial optimism of the Prime Minister that the war against the virus would conclude in 21 days has turned out to be misplaced. It seems that the virus is here to stay until a vaccine is found. I am also of the view that the government was uncertain about the criteria for lockdowns, nor does it have an exit strategy,” Mrs Gandhi said.

Apart from migrant workers, she said, those who had been “cruelly ignored” include the 13 crore families in the bottom half of the population — tenant farmers and landless agricultural workers; the laid off or retrenched workers; the shopkeepers and the self-employed; MSMEs; and organized industries.

“That the present government has no solutions is worrying; but that it has no empathy or compassion for the poor and vulnerable is heartbreaking,” said Mrs Gandhi.

For Uddhav Thackeray, whose Shiv Sena was a BJP ally for 35 years but has now teamed up with the NCP and Congress to rule Maharashtra, this was the first such opposition meeting.