The Communist Party of India has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not giving any concrete assurances to the States on tackling the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) during his address to the nation on Friday morning.
CPI national secretariat member K. Narayana said the Prime Minister made a ‘sentimental’ speech with ‘hidden agenda’ rather than announcing any specific measures. The government could have announced a package on the lines of Kerala allowing the departments and States to take up relief measures more effectively.
“Kerala, being small State, announced ₹ 20,000 crore making specific allocations to different departments. The Centre should announce similar package which will require ₹ 7.5 lakh crore or at least half of it so that the State governments can become active in taking up the coronavirus relief measures,” he said.
