Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi founder Thol. Thirumavalavan on Friday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Thursday for not making any concrete announcements in the wake of coronavirus problem and demanded that the Tamil Nadu government announce an economic package like the one announced by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
In a statement, Mr. Thirumavalavan said, “The coronavirus pandemic is not just an health crisis but also an economic one. Prime Minister Modi spoke about what people should do and didn’t utter a word about what the government was doing. The speech was disappointing since it didn’t prescribe any constructive solutions to the COVID-19 problem.”
“Unorganised sector workers have been affected as businesses have shut down throughout India and industrial production has reduced greatly. Daily wage agricultural labourers who can have their meals every day only if they work have been severely affected. Business houses have already requested that GST, income tax and loan interests should not be collected till April. Unorganised sector workers demanded an immediate relief for them. In this situation, it was expected that PM Modi would speak about all this – but he didn’t speak a single word on it,” said Mr. Thirumavalavan.
He pointed out that Prime Ministers of Great Britain, Canada and Chancellor of Germany had clearly spelt out how their governments were planning to allay the economic hardships faced by people due to coronavirus pandemic.
“They explained various economic steps taken by the government and the amount of money that has been allocated by the Government. PM Modi didn’t speak about these things at all,” he said.
Mr. Thirumavalavan said the Kerala government announced ₹20,000 crore as an emergency measure to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. He criticised the Central and the State Governments for not performing more tests as prescribed by the World Health Organisation.
