JOIN USWe said it first, says Congress as states become new bosses in Lockdown 4.0
With states turning the real bosses in Lockdown 4.0, Congress was quick to take claim that it was Rahul Gandhi, who had way back on May 8 said the future of COVID-19 control strategy lies in decentralisation of its management.
Three days before Prime Minister held interactions with Chief Ministers on the strategy next for containing COVID-19, Rahul Gandhi during his media interaction on May 8 had said that instead of one strong leader, he would prefer many strong Chief Ministers and District Magistrates, Collectors in such a situation in order to tackle the disease at the local level itself. He had also said that zones that have been decided at the central should be decided at the state level as the correct information is only with the state level leaders.
“What is needed is that these zones should be decided by the DMs, the CMS as they have the information. Delhi (Centre) does not have this information,” Gandhi had said.
On Sunday as the central government issued detailed guidelines for Lockdown 4.0 leaving it virtually to states to decide the containment strategy, the Congress went to town claiming that it was Gandhi, who had asked for it long back.
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Earlier also Congress had cited a tweet of Rahul Gandhi on Corona warning posted way back on February 12. “The Corona Virus is an extremely serious threat to our people and our economy. My sense is the government is not taking this threat seriously. Timely action is critical,” Gandhi had tweeted 40 days before the government announced the first lockdown on March 24. This was projected by the Congress as a sign of the foresightedness of Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul has been addressing several press conferences and been quite active on social media during the entire Corona crisis. Congress has taken efforts to project Rahul Gandhi’s initiatives on the Corona crisis as aspects of his leadership qualities.
However, the process of passing the baton of fighting COVID-19 to the states had begun from mid-April itself. Home Ministry guidelines on Sunday leaving it to states to demarcate zones and starting interstate transport services as well as intra state auto taxi services come after five long deliberations the Prime Minister held with the Chief Ministers and from April itself, the states had started asserting that the decision making should be local and left to them.
On May 11, the Prime Minister asked the state Chief Ministers to give him specific feedback on lockdown till May 15 and thanked them for their valuable suggestions emanating out of their grassroot level experience. Addressing the 11th Episode of ‘Mann Ki Baat 2.0” on April 26, Modi had said the “responsibilities being borne by local administrations and state governments are critical in the fight against Corona”.
In his earlier interaction with CMs on April 2, Modi said It is truly praiseworthy how all the states have worked together as a team to check the spread of the virus and added that both the states and Centre must formulate a common exit strategy to ensure staggered re-emergence of population once Lockdown ends.
On March 24, The Prime Minister said the central and state Governments countrywide are working swiftly to ensure that citizens do not face much inconvenience in their daily life.
Interacting with leaders of political parties on April 8, the PM had also said states, district administrations and experts have suggested extension of lockdown to contain spread of the virus.