Sonia, Rahul lead Congress’s ‘Speak Up India’ campaign

In an effort to amplify its critique of the Narendra Modi government's handling of the COVID-19 situation, the Congress on Thursday ran an online campaign titled 'Speak Up India', which saw party leaders and workers release videos to raise issues related to the impact of the pandemic on the country's economy and the lives of the people.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the campaign, releasing a video message in which she reiterated her party's demand that the government give Rs 7,500 as cash transfer to every poor family for the next six months.

Gandhi attacked the government for its alleged failure to come to the aid of the people who have been hit hard by the lockdown, including the migrant workers and the poor.

“It is for the first time since Independence that such a spectre of pain and anguish has been witnessed, where lakhs of famished and thirsty labourers have been forced to walk hundreds of thousands of kilometres back home barefoot and without any access to medicines or transport,” Gandhi said.

“We again urge the Centre to unlock its coffers and help the needy. Put direct cash of Rs 7,500 per month in the account of every family for the next six months and provide Rs 10,000 immediately,” she said, also seeking free and safe travel of migrant workers back to their home towns.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who has been very vocal on what is wrong with the government's COVID-19 strategy and what needs to be done, urged the Centre to provide immediate cash assistance to the poor families in India and increase the MGNREGA working days to 200 days.

Former Union minister P. Chidambaram said the party demands that each migrant worker family returning to their homes be given free transportation. “After being tested, each migrant family should be given Rs 10,000 to tide over the present crisis,” he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh sought the Centre's immediate intervention for cash transfer to all migrant workers and the poor, providing greater employment to rural poor under MGNREGS and financial assistance from MSMEs, other than loans.

AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged the people to join the campaign. In a video message, she said she was raising the issues of the people and it was the duty of all the party members to do so.

A large number of party leaders and workers shared videos on social media as part of the online endeavour, which was accompanied by the hashtag #SpeakUpIndia.

Congress' social media head Rohan Gupta said lakhs of people shared videos online as part of the campaign, which was run from 11 am to 2 pm on Thursday. “The response we got was beyond our expectations. We will keep having more such campaigns to build pressure on the government,” he said.