India not only took the bold and timely step of imposing a lockdown to save the lives of 1.3 billion people from Covid-19 but also took care of the economic issues faced by the people in this difficult time, said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda.
Nadda also said that the government had tried to turn tragedy into opportunity through the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.
Addressing a meeting of the party’s Odisha executive committee, Nadda said that while powerful western nations were helpless in combating the pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the decisive action of imposing a lockdown to save the lives of the people.
“PM Modi made it clear that the lives of 1.3 billion people must be saved. He said ‘Jaan hai to Jahan Hai’ as public health was at the top of his mind,” the BJP chief said.
Besides taking care of the health-related matters, the Modi government also addressed the economic issues through several programmes such as the ‘Garib Kalyan Yojana’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, Nadda said.
“Don’t count how many cases have emerged; also see how many cases are happening per million. You will see India has under Modi fought Covid from the front,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Don’t count how many cases have emerged; also see how many cases are happening per million. You will see India has under Modi fought Covid from the front,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He said that up to 800 million people were provided wheat, rice, cooking oil, etc, indicating that the PM was worried about the people. He said all sections of the society, including women, elderly, farmers and differently abled, were provided support during this period.
The tragedy and challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic were effectively turned into an opportunity by the BJP-led government at the Centre, which announced a ₹20 lakh crore package to revive economic activities amid the crisis, he said.
Nadda’s comments came amid the criticism of the government’s handling of the economy by the opposition over the sharp decline in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The country’s economy suffered its worst slump on record in April-June, with a 23.9% decline in the GDP.
Nadda also claimed that the Odisha government was trying to take credit for the Centre’s efforts. He alleged that there was corruption in certain areas of the state.