The Congress has hit out at the Centre for not announcing an interest subvention scheme along with the moratorium announced on payment of EMIs for three months against loans including for house, personal requirements, auto and other purposes, and said that it defeats the purpose of the relief.

“The middle classes, too, are vulnerable. Wage cuts, job losses across all sectors of the economy, high petrol, diesel and gas prices are causing them acute distress. If this was not enough, while EMIs have been deferred, no interest subvention or relief has been provided. This offsets the entire purpose of the deferment,” party’s statement says.

The statement issued by Congress president Sonia Gandhi after meeting of the party’s working committee also accused the centre of implementing the 21-day nationwide lockdown without any preparation, resulting in the suffering of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who walked on foot in an attempt to return to their home states.

The party also demanded that the government made public the list of all medical facilities devoted to fighting coronavirus including hospitals, number of beds, ventilators, quarantine and testing facilities.

“We urge the government to publish a common minimum relief programme. This is vital and will help alleviate several of the concerns that currently afflict all people,” the release said

The official release urged all the Congress-ruled states, party’s frontal organizations and its leaders and workers to “step forward” and offer their help to those families who are at “extreme risk”.

Lastly, in a reference to the focus on attendees of a religious gathering at Nizamuddin, who have arguably become the single largest source of Covid-19 infections across the country, the Congress statement adds that the disease doesn’t differentiate on the basis of religions, castes, political ideology, age or gender and therefore utmost care must be taken to protect the vulnerable among all communities against the spread of the disease.

“Covid-19 doesn’t differentiate between political ideology, religion, caste, age or gender. The choices we make today will have a direct impact tomorrow on our family, neighbourhood, community, environment and nation. How effectively we meet this challenge, how we protect all sections of our society, especially the most vulnerable amongst us will define us for generations to come. Only if we act together in solidarity, we will overcome,” it said.