Reuters :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged Indians to demonstrate collective will to fight the coronavirus, a token demonstration of which, he said, would be to light candles, lamps, mobile torches for nine minutes at 9pm on Apr 5, reports The Hindu.
He made the request while addressing the nation via a video conference on Friday, the ninth day of a harsh national lockdown in India to stem coronavirus spread.
“There is no bigger force than our conviction and resolve. There is nothing we cannot achieve with these forces,” Modi said.
The Indian prime minister made it very clear in his address that the coronavirus threat could only be combated with the full co-operation of the people, and that the collective strength was what would take the country out of what he termed “darkness that engulfs us” in the form of coronavirus, according to the report.
The plight of the poor, with the grinding halt of all economic activity, was also foremost in Modi’s address. “We have to take our poor brethren towards the light and certainty. To defeat this darkness, we have to shine the light in every direction,” he said.
Acknowledging that being under lockdown could be a lonely experience full of anxiety, Modi assured the people that “none of us are alone” and that the “collective will of 1.3 billion people of India was with us in this time of crisis.”
After some areas in the country saw instances of mass gatherings around Modi’s earlier exhortation to applaud essential services workers during the Janata Curfew of Mar 22, he made it a point to say that nobody should repeat that experience, The Hindu report adds.
“Either stay at your doors, on your balcony etc, but please do not cross the Laxman Rekha of your home,” he said. “Social distancing is the only Ram Ban [weapon] we have to combat coronavirus,” he said.
