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Re-imposing lockdown after assembly polls will be a 'mistake': Asaduddin Owaisi
India is battling the second wave of coronavirus pandemic and the number of new Covid-19 cases in India surged to a record-high of 152,879 on Sunday.
All India Majlis-e-Ittahad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi said the government must not reimpose a nationwide lockdown once the results of assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu are declared. If Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again imposes a Covid-19 lockdown across India, it will be a 'mistake', Owaisi could be heard saying in a clip posted by the AIMIM's Twitter account on Sunday.
"I hope that the Prime Minister doesn't announce a nationwide lockdown a day after the election results for the assembly polls in Assam, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry are declared on May 2," Owaisi said. He added that imposing such a measure would be incorrect and a "betrayal" against the poor and claimed that the India-wide lockdown announced in March last year resulted in 10 crore poor people losing their jobs. "Around 25-30 lakh white-collar workers had to face a deduction in their salaries and people died…. Hence, I hope the mistake which Prime Minister Modi had committed in March 2020 will not be repeated this year… Lockdown is not a correct way to tackle Covid,” Owaisi added.
India is battling the second wave of coronavirus pandemic and the number of new Covid-19 cases in India surged to a record-high of 152,879 on Sunday as authorities push for faster vaccinations, with some states considering tougher restrictions to slow the spread of the virus. Daily cases have set record highs six times this week, according to data from the Union health ministry. India's tally of more than 13.35 million Covid-19 cases is the third-highest globally, behind only Brazil and the United States.
