Symbolism cannot substitute urgent concrete measures: Yechury to President

Emphasising that "symbolism cannot substitute urgent concrete measures" to crises arising out of COVID-19, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury has asked President Ram Nath Kovind to ensure that steps are taken to carry out aggressive testing, announce a one-time loan waiver for farmers, interest-free deferment of EMIs and allocation of more money to states.

In a letter to the President, Yechury said the 21-day lockdown from March 25 has been "forced without any prior preparation" and the result has been a "degree of chaos and anarchy", which defeats the very objective of containing community transmission of this pandemic.

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"The country and people have gone through two ‘symbolic’ events so far. Disturbingly, yesterday’s (Sunday) symbolic event was observed by many as a celebration by bursting crackers, as the country is in the midst of this grim battle against the pandemic. I’m sure you would agree that such symbolism cannot substitute urgent concrete measures that need to be undertaken by the government," he said in the letter sent on Monday.

Yechury also raised "serious concerns" about the attempts being made to blame Muslim community as a whole for the spread of COVID-19 but said Tablighi Jamaat acted "very irresponsibly" by organising a gathering in Delhi in mid-march. However, he emphasised, this cannot be the "excuse to target" the community and unless stopped, this will disrupt the people’s united struggle against COVID-19.

Calling for extensive testing, he said as opposed to 7,659 per million testings in South Korea, the figures for India is an "abysmal low" of 32 and is being "universally commented" for conducting one of the lowest numbers of testing. "This is extremely dangerous for the future. The country needs to test as extensively as possible, identify the clusters where the virus is being transmitted, isolate them and enforce lockdown in those areas and not countrywide," he said.

Yechury said Modi did not take the state governments into confidence before announcing the countrywide lockdown, leaving many "completely unprepared" but now the Centre is asking states to take responsibility for the migrant workers’ crisis, which is "very unfair". He urged the President to ensure that the Centre "generously" financially support, as the recent transfers from the National Disaster Risk Management Fund were "meagre and inadequate".

He warned that agrarian distress is bound to intensify and urged the government to immediately announce a one-time waiver of loans of farmers. "This is perfectly possible given that so far loans worth Rs. 7.78 lakh crore taken by our super-rich corporates have been waived by this government. Surely, such empathies can also be extended to our 'annadatas' (food providers)," Yechury said.

With several complaining that they have got partial salary or no salary at all, he said many firms are laying off workers and many states have seen initiating salary cuts and demanded that the government take steps to compensate employers, like "many countries" have done, some to the tune of 80% per cent of their wage bill. The government should also take steps towards deferment of EMI payments for at least three months, which must be interest-free.

With early 7.5 crores tonnes of foodgrains lying in Food Corporation of India godowns, he said, "rather than this stock becoming rotten or feeding rodents, it should be immediately lifted and dispatched to the states for distribution among people who have lost their earnings."

Amid reports of healthcare professionals facing a shortage of critical equipment like ventilators and Personal Protection Kits (PPE), Yechury also said there is a need for "aggressive augmentation" of these equipments. "There is a likelihood of shortage of hospital space for isolation wards which, at least now, should be augmented urgently. There is an acute shortage of ventilators, which must be acquired promptly," he said.

On PM-CARES, he said it was set up despite having the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund and there were "disturbing reports of coercive collections, automatic deduction of a day’s salary from government employees and professionals, including health workers, without their concurrence". Urging to merge PM-CARES with PMNRF, he said bulk of this fund should be transferred to the respective states to ensure effective implementation of measures to fight COVID-19.