Congress's Rahul Gandhi today spoke to reporters on coronavirus outbreak.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today warned of an "economic devastation" in the next six months as he said that "people of the country are going to go through unimaginable pain" if India doesn't prepare itself amid coronavirus outbreak.
"Indian economy is going to be devastated. You don't how painful this is for the country," he told reporters this morning, while talking about novel coronavirus or COVID-19.
"I will tell u a story... In Andaman and Nicobar, before the tsunami came, the water went out. When the water went out, everybody went to get the fish. When they went, the water (levels) came up. I have been warning the government. They are fooling around... they are not clear about what to do," adding that "Coronavirus is like tsunami".
"India should be preparing itself not just for COVID-19 but for the economic devastation that's coming. I am saying it again and again. I am sorry to say this but our people are going to go through unimaginable pain in the next six months," he said.
The 49-year-old leader has been attacking the movement over coronavirus outbreak as number of cases continue to rise in the country.
Last week, he had tweeted: "I will keep repeating this. The coronavirus is a huge problem. Ignoring the problem is a non-solution. The Indian economy will be destroyed if strong action is not taken. The government is in a stupor," Mr Gandhi tweeted this morning."
Earlier, he had alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "sleeping at the wheel" and the country was headed for an "accident".
"Our Prime Minister is sleeping at the wheel. He does not understand these things, unfortunately, I am telling you, the Prime Minister of the India is clueless about the economy, about how these things work and we are heading for an accident as a nation," Mr Gandhi told reporters outside parliament.
Coronavirus or Covid-19 -which originated in China's Wuhan - has spread to 143 countries. In India, three people have died, over 120 are infected. Global markets have suffered record losses in the last two weeks due to the highly contagious illness.