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Published 11:34 IST, April 6th 2020

'Thank you Sir for this energetic initiative': Shatrughan Sinha praises PM Modi amid Covid

Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha on Monday was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the entire country rose to the occasion in unison on Sunday

Reported by: Jay Pandya
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Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha on Monday was all praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the entire country rose to the occasion in unison on Sunday night in response to PM Modi's appeal to light candles, diyas, and flashlights to signal India's resolve to defeat the coronavirus.

'Thank you Sir for this energetic initiative'

Taking to Twitter, the former BJP MP called Prime Minister Narendra Modi the "guardian of the nation" as people followed his appeal. He said, "People love & respect you & are united under your leadership for a natural cause. They showed their solidarity in combating."

In another tweet, Sinha wrote, "Hope, wish and pray that this turns out to be the best Diwali of the year. It’s the united effort of the nation fighting this pandemic. Thank you Sir for this energetic initiative to unite & fight these difficult times."

A nine-minute lights-out event on Sunday evening went off well without any disruption in the electricity grid after the government and utilities put in place elaborate plans to deal with the sudden drop and then a quick spurt in demand. 

Power Minister R K Singh told PTI, "The power supply ramp down and ramp up - they (officials) handled very smoothly, and I along with my senior officials - power secretary, POSCO CMD - were personally monitoring the situation from National Monitoring Centre in the ministry. I congratulate all the engineers of NLDC, RLDC and SLDCs for handling the situation very efficiently especially in huge response to the Prime Minister's call".

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PM Modi lights a lamp

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lit a lamp for 9 minutes at 9 pm on Sunday, April 5 to challenge the darkness caused by the novel coronavirus. Writing on Twitter, he quoted a Sanskrit verse to describe the occasion. 

According to the Health Ministry, there has been an increase of 490 coronavirus cases in the last 12 hours, taking India's total number of positive cases past 4000-mark. There are 4067 total cases in India, including 3666 active cases, 292 cured/discharged/migrated people. 109 people have died, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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Updated 11:34 IST, April 6th 2020