Combating COVID-19: Yogeshwar Dutt wants Indians to show unity on April 5

Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt on Friday urged the countrymen to show unity by following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to light 'diyas' and candles on April 5 at 9 pm for nine minutes to fight the darkness spread by the coronavirus pandemic.

"We all know that today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that on April 5 at 9 pm, we will switch off the lights and light 'diyas' and candles for nine minutes to show the world that India is standing united in this fight against coronavirus. It will act as an example of our unity," Dutt told ANI.

"The way you all showed unity during the (Janata) Curfew and now during the lockdown to fight against the coronavirus, the same way we have to again show the world that we are continuing our fight against coronavirus and will overcome this," he added.

Dutt's comments came soon after attending a meeting with Prime Minister Modi on COVID-19 lockdown via video conferencing.

The meeting was attended by 40 sportspersons of the country including Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mary Kom on the ongoing situation in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This is the first time that the Prime Minister has interacted with sports personalities since the 21-day lockdown was enforced on March 24 to contain the spread of the virus.

The other prominent people present the meeting included PT Usha, Pullela Gopichand, Vishwanathan Anand, Hima Das, Bajrang Punia, PV Sindhu, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Cheteshwar Pujara.