On Friday, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said that rather than asking people to light candles and diyas Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have announced steps to tackle India's economic woes, including relief measures for poor people hit hard by the lockdown.
This came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to light candles and diyas on April 5 at 9 p.m. for nine minutes to dispel the darkness and gloom brought by the coronavirus outbreak.
Taking to Twitter, the former Union Minister wrote: "Dear Narendra Modi, We will listen to you and light diyas on April 5. But, in return, please listen to us and to the wise counsel of epidemiologists and economists."
While tagging Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Chidambaram said "we expected from you today was FAP II, a generous livelihood support package for the poor."
In a series of tweets, Chidambaram said, "Every working man and woman, from business person to daily wage earner, also expected you to announce steps to arrest the economic slide and re-start the engines of economic growth."
The senior Congress leader also said that serious thought to ideas and measures shoud be taken to tackle economic growth. "The people are disappointed on both counts. Symbolism is important, but serious thought to ideas and measures is equally important," he added.
Days after the stupendous success of the 'Janata curfew ', Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to citizens to light candles and diyas on April 5 at 9 p.m. for nine minutes to dispel the darkness and gloom brought by the outbreak of the deadly novel coronavirus. He termed it as an attempt to show coronavirus, the strength of Indian unity and 'light'.
