On Saturday, the Congress party said that 775 people succumbed to the deadly coronavirus pandemic, however, the party claimed that 251 lives were lost due to starvation, exhaustion, stigma, violence and accidents during the lockdown.
Taking to Twitter, the party said that much like demonetisation, the unplanned lockdown has cost India dearly.
"The problem with taking extreme measure without due consideration and planning is that the loss is not just monetary," Congress said.
The Congress party added that it has been 1 month since the government announced the nationwide lockdown and in that time hundreds of thousands of migrant workers have lost their jobs and have been forced to endure the most painful of circumstances.
The party said that the unemployment rate before the lockdown was 8.4 per cent, however, the current unemployment rate is a whopping 26.2 per cent. "Over 14 crore have already lost their jobs, millions are expected to in the coming weeks, does the BJP govt have a plan to help them?" said Congress.
The Congress party has estimated that the daily loss due to the lockdown is Rs 35,000 crore and in the one month of the lockdown, the nation has lost approximately 8 trillion dollars. The party adds that 8.1 per cent of our GDP is the approximate cost of this lockdown. "Has the BJP govt paid any attention to this outcome?" they add.
Earlier, addressing a presser through video conferencing, Rahul Gandhi had said the lockdown is not a permanent solution to stop the virus, but the need of the hour is to test to identify those who have contracted the infection.
He appealed to all the political parties to work unitedly in the fight against COVID-19 and urged the Centre to revamp the testing ability and make arrangements for a sufficient number of ventilators.
