Bhubaneswar, September 5: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda on Saturday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for implementing a lockdown well in time which acted as a weapon to fight against coronavirus pandemic thus saving millions of lives while simultaneously taking care of the economy through Atmanirbhar Bharat mission.

"PM Modi placed human lives over the economy and implemented a strict lockdown. PM Modi said that India is the first country that completed the responsive system by implementing a lockdown. He took decisive action of imposing the lockdown in order to save the lives of the people," Nadda said while addressing a meeting of the party's Odisha executive committee via video conferencing on Saturday. Rajnath Singh Makes Big Announcement, Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission Gets Big Push as Defence Minister Announces Import Embargo on 101 Weapon Systems.

"Apart from taking care of the health issue, the Centre also addressed the economic issues through several programmes such as the Garib Kalyan Yojna and Atmanirbhar Bharat. The UN Secretary-General said - India has not only addressed the health issues, but also economic issues. Director-General of WHO also echoed the same opinion," he said.

The tragedy and challenges posed by the coronavirus were effectively turned into an opportunity by the Centre, Nadda further stated. His comments came at the time when the Opposition is repeatedly attacking the Central government over the plummeting of the gross domestic product (GDP) to -23.9.

The BJP National President also talked about the new education policy and stated, "The National Education Policy 2020, brought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will change the face of modern India. I call upon BJP workers to take the salient features of the National Education Policy to the people of India."

"During our times, we used to do 'rattafication' (to memorise) and vomit (to write) in exam halls whatever we knew. But under New Education Policy, there is no room for rattafication but one needs to worry about conceptual knowledge and critical analysis," he added.

In his concluding remark, Nadda slammed the Naveen Patnaik led government in Odisha and accused it of refusing to implement the 'Ayushman Bharat' programme because of petty politics depriving the needy of quality healthcare.

"I am saddened that we have not been allowed to implement the Ayushman Bharat in Odisha. There are 2.4 crore people who could have benefited from the Rs 5 lakh medical coverage. It has been 2 years, but the poor have not been allowed to take benefit from the scheme. I call upon Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to allow PM Modi's scheme to reach the poor and needy," he said.