Telangana’s BJP MLA Raja Singh lit torches and shouted slogans 'Chinese Virus Go Back' in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal was to switch off the lights in homes for nine minutes on April 5.
The MLA was seen with dozen supporters in this act.
Modi had urged citizens to light a lamp, candle or shine a mobile flashlight to dispel the darkness spread by coronavirus.
Meanwhile, in the “cruelest irony” China ,that has blasted the world with 1 million coronavirus cases, now stands to gain from the fallout, exporting equipment and supplies needed to fight the pandemic, according to a US leader. “It is the cruelest irony that this nation (US) is now dependent on China for production of many of these products,” said New York’s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo recently as he scrambled to get vital medical equipment and supplies to his state where the 102,987 coronavirus cases exceed China’s overall 82,518.
The COVID-19 crisis has brought home to the US how the global shift of manufacturing to China can make it beholden to Beijing in a crisis.
The US is not alone. India has also found itself –like most countries – dependent on China for medical supplies for fighting coronavirus that originated in the Asian giant.
When the pandemic ends, there could be a sharp rethinking in the US about globalisation and possibly boost President Donald Trump’s “America First” policy, with a chain reaction around the world.
The US also has problems with major medical exporter India, but the spotlight has stayed away from it. After New Delhi, which sends pharmaceuticals worth $5.35 billion annually to the US, banned some exports due to the COVID-19 crisis, Washington pressured it to ease the restrictions.
The shortages of supplies needed for the pandemic have led to sharp increases in prices leading to greater profits for China.