Five important things Rajiv Bajaj said in conversation with Rahul Gandhi

The managing director of Bajaj Auto was in a dialogue with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as part of a series on India's COVID-19 response and the lockdown initiated by Rahul Gandhi

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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.

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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".

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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."

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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.

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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."