Mahabharata won in 18 days, battle against coronavirus will take 21 days, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said winning the war against coronavirus will take 21 days as opposed to the 18 days taken to win the epic war of Mahabharata, underlining the enormity of the challenge posed by the disease that has brought the world to its knees. He added that while Lord Krishna had guided the Pandavas to victory, the nation was today being guided by its 1.3 billion citizens.

The prime minister made the remarks while addressing his constituency of Varanasi on Wednesday and said the ancient city of ‘Kashi’ –the other name for Varanasi, can take the lead in teaching the rest of the country the value of restraint, resolve and kindness.

Watch | Covid-19 | ‘Mahabharata won in 18 days but..’: PM Modi on 21-day lockdown

PM added that the country needed divine blessings on the first day of Hindu festival of ‘Chaitra Navratri’ to win the fight against coronavirus.

Modi then opened the session for an interaction over coronavirus with the residents of the constituency.

Prime minister’s address and subsequent interaction on Wednesday was replete with mythical and religious references, he started his address with greeting the people on the first day of ‘Navratra’ festivals and said he could not be among the people of his constituency on this occasion because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Today is the first day of Navratri, you all must be busy in performing rituals & offering prayers, but still you took out time for this interaction, I’m grateful to all of you. I pray to Goddess Shailputri to give us the strength to fight the country’s battle against coronavirus,” he said.

He compared India’s efforts to tackle coronavirus with a “war” on a couple of occasions and even likened the essential service providers to the foot soldiers in this fight but reserved the top praise for doctors and medical professionals, who he said, were “god-like’ for their life-saving efforts.

“Healthcare professionals working in white uniforms in hospitals are like God for us today, they are saving us from the disease. They are saving us by risking their own lives,” he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a 21-day national lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday and stressed on the need for citizens to follow social distancing as the only way to stop the pandemic from wreaking further havoc in India.

He said not following the lockdown norms set out by the state and Central governments would cost the country heavily and failure to stay at home for the duration of lockdown could set the country back by 21 years.

On Wednesday, he said that home ministry officials and police chiefs of every state had been instructed to take strict against the violators.

“I have told Home Ministry & DGPs to take strict action against those who are not supporting or not co-operating with doctors, nurses & other professionals who are serving us in this critical time,” he said.