Addressing reporters via a Zoom video call, Mr Gandhi also expressed “serious reservations” about the government’s Rs 20 lakh crore package for the coronavirus-hit Indian economy, calling it a “package of loans” that did not provide immediate on-ground relief for farmers and migrants.

“Our people need money. Prime Minister should reconsider this package. Modiji should think about direct cash transfer, 200 working days under MNREGA, money for farmers, because they are the future of India,” he said.

Mr Gandhi highlighted the NYAY scheme proposed by the Congress last year – which offered annual income support of Rs 72,000 to the poorest sections of society – and urged the government to come up with a similar plan.

“The migrant labourer walking on the street needs money, not debt. The farmer who is suffering needs money, not debt,” Mr Gandhi said, adding, “If we do not, this will become a catastrophic problem”.

Earlier this week Mr Gandhi made that same request of PM Modi, asking for direct transfer of “at least Rs 7,500” to the bank accounts of migrants left jobless by the lockdown.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Abhijit Banerjee, in a discussion with Mr Gandhi on the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis, made the same point.

Mr Banerjee said: “I would say bottom 60 per cent of the population, we give them some money, nothing bad will happen in my view”, adding that a similar practice was being followed by the United States.

The novel coronavirus outbreak – India has reported nearly 86,000 cases and over 2,700 deaths so far – has affected lakhs of people across the country, with migrant labourers and daily wagers among the hardest hit.

Distressing visuals have emerged over the past weeks of men, women and children left with no choice but to walk hundreds of kilometres home in punishing weather, often without money, food, water or shelter.

Mr Gandhi has been particularly vocal about the migrant crisis, repeatedly urging the government to ensure they are fed and allowed to get home safely.

The government this week announced a fiscal relief and stimulus package that had some measures for stranded and struggling migrants, including food rations and affordable housing.

However, the Congress said this was a “jumla” (false promise) package that had no direct benefit for farmers or migrant labourers. Similar concerns were raised by other opposition leaders, including NCP chief Sharad Pawar and CPIM leader Sitaram Yechury.

In his video call today, Mr Gandhi said that unless the government ensured a significant level of demand from consumers across all economic sections, the country would struggle to recover from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Amit Shah said: “Let me say this here and now, this law will not be withdrawn, no matter who protests… We are not scared of opposition, we were born in it.”

Amit Shah accused the Congress and the Samajwadi Party of spreading lies about the law. “Mamata didi, Akhilesh-ji, Mayawati-ji, I dare you to a debate on the Citizenship Act anywhere in the country… I dare you to show me any clause in the bill that talks about taking away any one’s citizenship,” he said.

The BJP claims that the protests against the CAA are fallout of misinformation spread by the opposition. Mr Shah also accused the Congress of making such a law necessary – first through partition and then through inaction because of votebank politics.

“For 10 years the UPA government was there, and from Pakistan, Aalia, Malia, Jamalia used to come here and carry out terror attacks. Manmohan Singh or mauni baba did not say a word against it. It is because of your people from Uttar Pradesh that Modi-ji got a two-thirds majority government,” he said.

Uttar Pradesh has seen some of the most violent protests over the citizenship law – in the first weeks after the law was passed in parliament, 20 people from the state had died in clashes with the police. The police have denied opening fire, though some of the protesters were seen to have bullet injuries.

Meanwhile The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) has announced that it will conduct door-to-door campaigns across India to explain how the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the National Population Register (NPR), and the Citizenship Amendment Act are connected.

Aside from extending full support to the ongoing anti-government agitations and actively participating in all protests against the CAA, NRC and NPR, the leftist party has also decided to embark on a mission to make sure those who have rejected the NRC and CAA, do not answer questions related to NPR either.

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