Owaisi slams PM's call to turn off lights, says India not event management firm

Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Indians to switch off lights for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday (April 3) ridiculed him saying the country was not an event management company. Owaisi’s comments drew flak from Telangana BJP, which said he should first condemn the Tablighi Jamaat episode.

In a series of tweets, Owaisi said people of India wanted to know what aid states would get and what relief the poor would receive. But, instead, they had got some new drama, he said. “I know you only want #positivevibes & dont want us to raise some issues but WHERE is the light?,” he questioned in another tweet.

This country is not an event management company. The people of India are humans who too have dreams & hopes. Don’t reduce our lives to gimmicks of 9 mins, @PMOIndia. We wanted to know what aid states will get & what relief the poor will receive

Instead we got some new drama[1/n]

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) April 3, 2020

He alleged that an unplanned lockdown had meant more and more suffering to the poor, who were left to the charity of rich and the limited economic abilities of states. “When CM’s ask you for financial relief, you ask them to switch off their lights?, he said in a tweet, reacting to a news report that suggested that Modi was silent on states’ request for funds.

Modi on Thursday held a video conference with all chief ministers to discuss ways to check the spread of coronavirus. In another tweet, he opined that the pre-corona economic crisis will now become an impending financial disaster. “What will happen to our savings? What’ll happen to the banks? he questioned in the tweet.

Reacting to the Hyderabad MPs tweets, Telangana BJP in a statement said Owaisi should first explain what measures he had taken to contain coronavirus spread in his constituency, which has witnessed a steep rise in the number of cases.

Related News: India’s COVID-19 count rises to 2,547, toll at 62 on Day 10 of lockdown

Asaduddin hasn’t commented on Tablighi Jamaat episode and thousands of participants, who have been openly defying all directives of the government, BJP’s Telangana chief spokesperson K Krishna Saagar Rao said.

Owaisi has openly supported this cluster, which by far is the largest infecting cluster in the entire world, Rao alleged. Tablighi Jamaat cluster is rapidly transmitting coronavirus across India. However, Asaduddin is busy promoting these super spreaders through his supportive statements, he said.

Asaduddin has no moral and ethical high-ground to criticise PM Narendra Modi, who is working 24/7 to ensure India flattens the rising curve, the BJP leader said.