Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a dramatic appeal to all Indians to stay at home and follow a 14-hour ‘Janta curfew’ on Sunday in order to build awareness and also the discipline needed to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic that has swept India and the globe.

In a televised broadcast to the nation lasting around 30 minutes, Modi displayed his formidable communication skills as he encouraged Indians to follow the new rules of “social distancing” and to only go out for absolutely essential work.

On Sunday, he said, people should stay at home from 7am to 9pm.

“Restraint is necessary to ensure we stay healthy. Avoid crowds and stay at home. What is known as social distancing is very necessary,” said the Prime Minister.

Cheers for health workers

During the curfew, the Prime Minister also requested all Indians to stand at their doorsteps or windows on Sunday at 5pm for five minutes and clap together to express solidarity with health workers and other essential workers.

“During this period, we will not come out of our homes nor on the streets or in the vicinity. Only people related to essential services can come out. This effort of ours will be a symbol of our restraint. It’s an experience that will prepare us for future challenges.”

Some analysts predicted that the “janta curfew” could be to prepare Indians for a wider lockdown, during which they will only be allowed to go out for essential work. Others pointed out that the 5pm clap is a symbolic gesture to build solidarity.

The idea of asking residents to cheer for health workers and those in essential services appeared to be inspired from Spain and Italy.

Residents of these countries, in a lockdown now, clapped and played music from their windows and balconies across localities to express their gratitude for health workers risking their all in the coronavirus frontline.

Initial reactions to the Prime Minister’s speech were favourable even though he did not announce any specific measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

However, some analysts pointed out he did not talk about key measures like increased testing that may be needed to halt the Covid-19 spread.

The announcement yesterday that the Prime Minister would address the nation had caused a huge flurry of rumours with many people believing that he would announce a nationwide lockdown.

This caused one commentator, Srinivasan Jain, to tweet: “In future for public emergencies of this nature, not advisable to announce a PM address 24 hours in advance. Need to compress timelines, to reduce speculation/panic.”

Task force on economy

The Prime Minister also announced the formation of a Covid-19 task force headed by the finance minister that will “get feedback from stakeholders” and attempt to assess the impact of the disease on the economy. He admitted that the economy had already been badly affected.

He also added an appeal to employers to make allowances for their staff who may be forced to stay at home, if necessary.

“I appeal to the business community to be sensitive and keep the economic needs,” of their employees. He added: “Please do not cut their wages if they cannot come to office. Always remember they have families to feed.”

Most crucially, the Prime Minister attempted during the speech to build up national solidarity and talked about wars and the difficulties of earlier decades.

“Today’s generation will not be familiar with this. But in a warlike situation there used to be a blackout at night. Even if there was no war this continued for a long time,” he said.

Modi compared the Covid-19 battle to World War I and World War II and said: “Even when World War I and World War II happened it didn’t affect as many people as are affected today by Covid-19.

Modi also appealed to older people to stay at home for a few weeks because they are more vulnerable and could suffer serious consequences from the illness.

He urged everyone: “Only leave home if it is utterly essential. As much as possible, do your business from home.”

The Prime Minister did not talk about the steps like extensive testing that are needed to be done to contain the disease. But it appeared that he had purposely made a wider appeal that would reach all 1.3 billion Indians.