On Friday, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor – who recently showed his ability so speak in other languages like Bengali and Hindi to address migrant workers, the ones on Twitter anyway – took to his favourite social medium to mock PM Modi’s 9 PM candle idea.
Tharoor wrote: “Listened to the Pradhan Showman. Nothing about how to ease people’s pain, their burdens, their financial anxieties. No vision of the future or sharing the issues he is weighing in deciding about the post-lockdown. Just a feel-good moment curated by India’s Photo-Op PrimeMinister!”
He further added, what appeared to be a tract from a WhatsApp joke: “This is no accident: the PM spoke on Ram Navami at 9 am for 9 mins, asked us to light diyas & candles on 5/4 at 9 pm for 9 mins. He is invoking all the auspicious elements Hinduism associates with number 9. Back to Ram Bharose?! #COVID19 must be more serious than we thought!”
Meanwhile, BL Santosh, National General Secretary of BJP, who once threatened to interfere in US Elections, wrote: “Usual suspects are disappointed by Narendra Modi’s message .They want facts , figures & new policies. They are the same people who can’t manage the single kid they have or the pet without a maid . He has to manage a country of 130 Cr people & most disruptive liberal eco system. Everyday a joint press conference is held by Govt . All questions are answered with facts , figures there . These usual suspects think it is below dignity to attend or listen to it. Like a guardian he is instilling confidence & hand holding the countrymen . #IndiaFightsCorona"
Shortly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on the country's citizens to light diyas and candles on the coming Sunday to show India's collective determination to fight against the darkness of coronavirus, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said that the PM's message lacked any substance related to containing the disease or protect the medical practitioners and others.
"Modiji, Learnt nothing about government's steps to- 1) contain the virus, 2) protect our medical practitioners, 3) provide testing kits, 4) reach food and supplies to the poor, 5) finance migrant labour, the jobless.Light the ' Diya ' of reason, Not that of superstition !" Sibal tweeted.
The senior Congress leader was not alone in criticising the video message by Prime Minister Modi as Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor also shared a tweet stating that it lacked measures "to ease people's pain, their burdens, their financial anxieties." Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had urged people to gather together for a unique exercise on April 5 at 9 pm to show they were together in the fight against coronavirus.
"On this Sunday, April 5, we will challenge the darkness of coronavirus threat together. On April 5, at 9 pm, I need your 9 minutes. At 9 pm, turn off all the lights in your houses and light a Diya, candle, torch or flashlight for 9 minutes at your doors, or balcony," Modi said.
The Prime Minister further said that this will send out a message that nobody among the 130 crore Indians is alone in this fight against the deadly infection.
