New Delhi: All power cannot be concentrated in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), and India will lose in its fight against Covid-19 if the Narendra Modi government does not devolve powers to chief ministers and district magistrates, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said Friday.
Addressing the media through video conferencing, Gandhi said, “If we keep this fight only in PMO, we will lose; PM must devolve power,” he said, adding that the Prime Minister needs to talk to chief ministers as a partner and consult them instead of centralising all power.
He further said the Centre also needs to be transparent about its lockdown exit strategy.
Citing the example of how districts are classified into red, green and orange zones, depending on the volume of cases, Gandhi said the government needed to give district magistrates authority to take a call in this regard.
“The information about zones is with the state-level leaders and collectors. This information is not available with the Centre,” he said.
“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 and a lot of strong collectors are needed,” he further said. “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,” he said, urging the Centre to not centralise power.
Also read: ‘Tell us, what’s the strategy after 17 May?’ — Congress wants Modi govt to explain Covid plan
District classification
Gandhi said that the Centre needs to devolve powers to the DMs and states to classify the zones into Red, Orange and Green. Since this information is not available with the Centre, it should give DMs the free hand to classify their districts into the three zones on the basis of local factors and information.
The issue has been taken up by different Congress CMs with the party.
“Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has told us that some of the red zones (classified by the Centre) are actually green, and some of the green zones are actually red … The information with the Centre is wrong,” he said.
Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh, for example, has earlier said that the decision on classification of zones as red, orange or green should be left to the states. The states, he said, should in turn authorise the deputy commissioners to demarcate the districts on the basis of ground realities.
Gandhi also said that chief ministers are not getting their due money from the Centre.
“We have received inputs that BJP chief ministers also have the same feeling,” he said.
Further, he said that his party has constantly been giving suggestions to the Centre, even though the BJP government has a tendency of not talking to the Opposition.
Gandhi also referred to the NYAY scheme, the Congress’ proposal that promised basic income of Rs 72,000 annually for each poor family if his party had come to power in the 2019 general election, and said it needed to be implemented without any delay to build a protective wall for the country’s poorest.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi’s NYAY raises too many questions & is not the answer to ending poverty
why delete my message ? because i support Rahul gandhi…making fool
MY `VIEWS DELETED WHY ? IF SOME ONE SUPPORT RAHUL GANDHI THE MESSAGES DELETED IN ALL PLATFORM . THOSE WHO ARE SCOLDING RAHUL GANDHI THAT MESSAGE APPEAR AGAIN……BJP IS GOVT IS HELL IN INDIAN HISTORY. WE TODAY POOR COUNTRY IN THE WORLD BECAUSE OF MODI AND THE NEWS CHANNEL ZEE NEWS,REPUBLIC TV, INDIA TV, NEWS 18…HELL IS GOING ON IN INDIA ..MIGRANT ARE DYING FOR FOOD AND POOR PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING …MODI RUNNING NRI AND RICH PEOPLE GOVT .
He must say whether the Constitution does not empower the CMs adequately
RaGa has been screaming for empowerment of states, farmers , women and whoever else one can think of.
Basically it means give us the money and we will decide whom to give and how much to give.
His empowerment be by providing a list of deserving people for DBT.
Carry on RahulG,,,,,,,
Every time you give an interview, the BJP’s support increases by a small margin. Each time you speak, you make it clear why the defunct & decrepit Congress should NEVER return to power,
Thank you RahulG, your time is up.
No one needs to be tutored on the Indian Constitution that has a defined federal structure. No one State is inhibited to take action against potential untoward situation provided in the Constitution – some by Consultation with Central Government; others by decisive action under law. Maharashtra has announced it intends to impose lockdown beyond 17th May with spiralling numbers of Coronovirus affected illness. It’s an unilateral decision decided by a need and does not need consolation. Did the state for example in 1966 consult anybody of the environmental and economic disaster (creating slums such as Geeta Nagar and Dharavi) when the Backbay Reclamation Project was undertaken when the backwater and part of the sea was to be exploited by Real Estate Sharks. This became the model of growth giving rise to the Mall Culture in India, chaos on roads, pollution and a new phenomenon – Migrant Workers. Every India citizen has a right to live and work in any part of India. The son of soil theory enunciated so articulately by political loyalists who breach the provision of the constitution -should be named and shamed for this new tag. So it’s time to stop pontificating and correct the mistakes of the past and build an India. Not a collection of states and political theories of how we are to be ruled.