Covid-19 is a scary disease but it is not a deadly disease for many people, former Indian National Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Friday as he asked the government to alleviate fears associated with it as part of measures to lift the nationwide lockdown.
“The disease is dangerous for a few categories of people. It is dangerous for old people, for those who have diabetes, hypertension etc. But other than that, it is not a dangerous disease. So we have to make a psychological change in the mind of the people. Currently, people are very scared. The government, if it wants to open up, will have to turn this fear into a sense of confidence,” he said while addressing a press conference through video conference.
Holding that the fight against Covid-19 cannot be just from the PMO, Gandhi asked the Prime Minister to devolve power and make the states partner in decision-making.
Gandhi said there will be a “calamity” if the fight against coronavirus is centralised. He also asked the government to adopt transparency in its actions to tackle coronavirus and work together with states.
“Centre should not deciding zones, it should not get into the local fight against the disease,” he said, adding that some of the zones have been wrongly classified as the information from the Centre is wrong, which is helping spread the disease.
“The list is being compiled at the Centre and given to the states (for zones) which is very problematic. This cannot be decided top down, this is taking us backwards in our COVID fight,” he said.
