Shortly after the PM’s meeting with the Chief Ministers of states and the union territories on Saturday, 11 April, to discuss the lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal took to twitter to say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a decision to retain the nationwide lockdown and added that he endorsed the prime minister’s call since the lockdown measure has helped India contain the contagion better than other developed nations.
“PM has taken the correct decision to extend lockdown. Today, India’s position is better than in many developed countries because we started lockdown early. If it is stopped now, all gains would be lost. To consolidate, it is imp to extend it,” Kejriwal tweeted advocating the prolonged lockdown.
In the previous meeting with the fore-runners of legislative parties, PM Modi had said that lifting the lockdown imposed on March 25, did not look possible at the moment.
Several Chief Ministers including that of Kerala, West Bengal, Telangana, Maharashtra, Punjab and the Governor of Jammu & Kashmir made a case for the extension of lockdown so that the gains from the implementation of the measure are not lost after the restrictions are eliminated. Maharashtra, Odisha and Punjab have already extended the lockdown till 30th April within their territories.
Soon after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader’s tweet, the Principal Spokesperson for the Government of India and the Principal Director General of Press Information Bureau of the Central government said the PM was contemplating the requisition made by the Chief Ministers in favour of the extension.
“During the video-conferencing on #coronavirusinindia with state CMs today, most states requested PM @narendramodi to extend the lockdown for 2 more weeks. The Central Government is considering this request,” he remarked.
While there are a myriad of speculations regarding the extension of the lockdown beyond April 14, there have been suggestions to ease constraints in certain pockets of the country to allow for a resumption of commercial activity
