New Delhi: Taking a dig at Congress for playing politics over the COVID-19 situation, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday stated that the government's priority is to "drive away locusts, not losers".
"Our primary responsibility is to fight against Coronavirus, not Congress. Our priority is to send away locusts, not losers (Hamari prathmikta tiddi ko bhagana hai, fissadi ko nahi)," Naqvi said.
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Hectares of cropland have been destroyed so far as the country is witnessing a severe locust outbreak in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. India has proposed a coordinated response to tackle Desert Locust along the border to Pakistan and also offered to facilitate the supply of insecticide Malathion to Islamabad for the same.
Naqvi stated that it is "unfortunate" that some people are not understanding that free ration is being provided to people and the government is working for the welfare of women, labourers and farmers.
"The country is in a critical situation due to COVID-19 outbreak and everyone is together in this fight. But some are using it as a political opportunity and questioning the government, knowing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken major decisions to tackle the situation. This is why COVID-19 recovery rate is over 50 per cent," he said.
"More than 3,000 Shramik trains were operated and are still being run to ferry migrants to their homes. The negative politics at this time is condemnable," he added.
(ANI report)
