Coronavirus: Rahul Gandhi said testing is critical to check the COVID-19 pandemic
Rahul Gandhi today commented on what he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "style" as he suggested a decentralised approach to fighting coronavirus in the country. While stressing on his and the Congress's "constructive" support to the government, he said this was not the time for a political blame-game.
"I may disagree on a lot of issues with Narendra Modi ji, but today is not a time to get into all this. Today is a time to unite and fight the common enemy," the Congress leader said, addressing a press conference via video link on the response to coronavirus.
"The day India defeats COVID, but today, all I want to do is contribute positively. I will not indulge in personal and political battles. This is a time for us all to come together and fight the common enemy - the virus," he said.
"Today I want to give constructive advice. I don't want to get into any tu-tu-main-main."
Responding to questions in an hour-long interaction, Mr Gandhi said COVID-19 cannot be controlled; it has to be dynamically managed. Which is why, he pointed out, states needed to have more power to tackle the contagion in their way.
"I would like to see more power to be decentralised to states. The Prime Minister should have a more detailed conversation with states. But Modi ji has a different style of working and we can work around that style," the Congress leader said.
"The centre needs to control the main arteries but states need to control their area. If some states want more nuanced lockdown, they should have the choice."
He repeatedly stressed he did not want to dwell on criticism or post-mortem of decisions like the nationwide lockdown. "I don't want to go into the question of why we are in this position but testing is critical to ensure that non-hotspot areas don't become hotspots," he said.
A lockdown, he said, would help only to stop the virus for a short while, but in no way could defeat it. "The only way to do this is to increase testing. We are chasing the virus. We need to go beyond and this is my advice to the government. We need to test aggressively and strategically," said the Congress leader.
"Premature declaration of victory is fatal," he added, not specifying what he was referring to.