India implemented a draconian lockdown that was porous and has ended up decimating its economy and flattening the GDP curve instead of that of the novel coronavirus infections
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Bajaj criticised the Central government for imposing the 'draconian' lockdown and claimed that it was only in India that people were not allowed to move outdoors.
"The way India has been locked down is a draconian lockdown. I am not hearing about this kind of lockdown from anywhere else. All my friends and family from across the world have always been free to step out," Bajaj said.
"We tried to implement a hard lockdown which was still porous. You flattened the wrong curve. It is not the infection curve, it is the GDP curve. This is what we have ended (up) with, the worst of both worlds," Bajaj said.
There was no lockdown even during the world war
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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday, in a dialogue with industrialist Rajiv Bajaj on the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis, criticised the Central government for its handling of the disease and said that "there was no lockdown even during the world war".
"It is quite surreal. I do not think anyone imagined that the world would be locked down in this way. I do not think even during the world war, the world was locked down. Even then, things were open. It is a unique and devastating sort of phenomenon," Gandhi said.
We look West and not East
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Rajiv Bajaj further targeted the Centre and said, "Don't understand how despite being an Asian country, we ought not to look East, we looked at Italy, France, Spain, the UK and the US. Not right benchmarks in any sense be it in terms of inherent immunity, temperature, demography etc."
"Instead of looking to the west or to the east, why didn't we say that we are actually a confident country, let's look at ourselves and let's come out with an Indian solution. Why was that not the natural impulse?" Gandhi said.
We are not seeing a smooth, concerted, rhythmic movement towards unlocking
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"On one hand a porous lockdown makes sure that the virus will still exist and as you said, it is still waiting to hit you when you will unlock. So you have not solved that problem," Bajaj said.
He said it is a herculean task to open up the economy and called for taking fear out of people's minds through a "very clear, aligned narrative" from none other than the prime minister.
Bajaj was of the view that India can tackle it by adopting specialisation as a strategy
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Agreeing with the industrialist's opinion, the Gandhi scion said, "It (lockdown) was also imposed suddenly. The bittersweet thing you said is shocking to me. See, rich people can deal with it as they have a home, a comfortable atmosphere, but it is completely devastating for the poor people and migrants."
"A lot of people said that they have lost confidence and I think this is a very sad thing, and dangerous for the country," the Congress leader added.