Excerpts from Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi’s Press briefing :

We have been having an internal discussion about some of our suggestions to the govt. I want to share some of the ideas with you, in our spirit to help the govt and to provide some input from our side :

Rahul Gandhi on providing support to the poor :

‘We simply cannot continue without providing support to the people’

• We have been in lockdown for 45 days now and we are beginning to run into a little bit of a problem.
• We simply cannot continue without providing support to the people who are suffering as a result of this lockdown.
• I request the government that they view State governments & district magistrates as partners and that they do not centralise the decision making.
• Take the idea of NYAY and start putting money directly into the hands of 50% of India’s poor households. It’s not going to cost too much. ₹65,000 crores is what it is going to cost.
  

Rahul Gandhi on Migrant workers :

‘a conversation between States has to happen’

• Regarding the transfer of migrants, a conversation between States has to happen and these decisions have to be made with empathy towards migrants, and the Centre has to oversee.
  

Rahul Gandhi on Indian Economy :

‘If you want to start the engine, you cannot think of starting just one part of the engine’

• Indian economy has stopped, businesses are collapsing and you need to create demand immediately. You need to get the system started else there will be a catastrophe.
• You need to create demand, put money in the system, put money in poor people’s hands, help MSMEs and make sure you’re protecting some of the larger players because these are all interconnected.
• You have to take care of big and small businesses alike because everything is connected. If you want to start the engine, you cannot think of starting just one part of the engine.

Rahul Gandhi on Tackling COVID :

‘I want a strong Indian leader to stand in front of this disease – be it a collector or a farmer’

• The Prime Minister has his own style, but in my view, in such a situation a strong Prime Minister along with a lot of strong Chief Ministers & a lot of strong collectors are needed. I want us to tackle the disease at the local level itself.
• I want a strong Indian leader to stand in front of this disease – be it a collector or a farmer. The zones are being decided at the national level while the CMs say that it should be decided at the State level.
• Information about zones is with the state level leaders and collectors. This information is not available with the centre.
• There is an atmosphere of fear in India and the world today. The atmosphere of fear has to end before ending the lockdown, otherwise no one will come out. Media colleagues also need to help end this fear.
• Everyone has a responsibility. Everyone should forget which party they belong to, the only thing to be remembered is that we are all Indians and together we have to end the fear & the economy has to be brought back on track.