PM Narendra Modi calls for focused approach on COVID-19 lockdown

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday dropped indications of another lockdown with fewer restrictions in a video conference interaction with 30 chief ministers, many of whom were wary of lifting Lockdown 3.0 scheduled to end on Sunday.

Amid surging COVID-19 cases, Maharashtra, Telangana, Bihar, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam seemed jittery on lifting the restrictions. After the meeting, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that Lockdown 4.0 will start on May 18.

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Seeking to shift the focus on containment zones in the coming days, Modi said he is of the firm view that measures needed in the first phase were not needed in the second phase. Similarly, the measures needed in the third phase will not be needed in the fourth, he said, as he stressed the need for social distancing.

The Prime Minister requested all the chief ministers to share with him a broad strategy on how they would deal with the lockdown regime in their states by May 15. The Prime Minister's Office is said to be in favour of giving states more freedom to decide on the restrictions.

“We now have a reasonably clear indication as to the geographical spread of the pandemic in India, including the worst affected areas,” said Modi during his six-hour-long marathon interaction, where he coined a new slogan “Jan se Jag Tak” (From People to the World).

Calling for a “focused approach” in tackling the pandemic, the PM also said the process of resuming economic activities will further gather steam and stressed on the need to “ensure that rural India remains free from this crisis”.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, whose state capital Mumbai has been ravaged by COVID-19, opposed the lifting of the lockdown completely, while Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani batted for a gradual removal of restrictions post-May 17, a view echoed by the Karnataka government.

Barring Assam, which favoured a two-week extension of the lockdown, most of the BJP-ruled states did not make any strong pitch for continuing the restrictions.

Andhra Pradesh CM Y S Jaganmohan Reddy favoured an extension but made a strong pitch for relaxing the restrictions, saying “we will have to learn to live with the virus”.

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A similar call was made by Punjab, which pitched for an extension of the lockdown, but with a carefully crafted strategy, backed by fiscal and economic empowerment of the states.

With train services set to resume, Bihar apprised the Prime Minister about the threat of an exponential rise in cases due to migrants’ flux to the state, while Telangana and Tamil Nadu asked the Centre to refrain from resuming passenger train services.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami said he won’t permit train service to his state till May 31 as COVID-19 cases in Chennai are surging.

Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh wanted the decision on the zoning of an area to be left to the states. AAP-ruled Delhi favoured a gradual exit from the lockdown, a view in consonance with that of the Centre.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said there should be no movement of people from the red zone to the green zone.

In the meeting, there were also some fireworks as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee underlined the need to respect the federal spirit. Mamata wondered as to how a letter written by the central government to the state got leaked even before it reached her government.

There should be no such politics on an issue like this, Mamata said.