Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Chief Ministers to decide on the exit strategy from the nationwide lockdown that ends on April 14, senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, in a series of tweets, said that the CMs should demand to “remonetise the poor”.
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Tagging Captain Amarinder Singh of Punjab, Ashok Gehlot of Rajasthan, Bhupesh Baghel of Chattisgarh, V Narayanswami of Puducherry, Uddhav Thackeray of Maharashtra and E Palaniswamy of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Chidambaram asserted that they should tell the PM that “just as LIVES are important LIVELIHOOD of the poor is important.”
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“The poor have lost their jobs or self-employment in the last 18 days. They have exhausted their meagre savings. Many are standing in line for food. Can the State stand by and watch them go hungry?” Mr Chidambaram questioned.
Opposition parties have repeatedly flagged that the rescue package announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was minuscule.
“CMs should demand that cash be transferred to every poor family immediately. “Remonetise the poor” should be their unanimous demand,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
