The Indian PM Narendra Modi addressed the nation on April 3, 2020, amid the Coronavirus lockdown and asked the citizens to light a candle, lamp or mobile flashlight at 9 pm on April 5, Sunday to fight the darkness of this disease with light.
He also had a conference call with top athletes of India and gave them a five-point mantra to tackle the Coronavirus problem.
The mantra comprised of Sankalp, Sanyam, Sakaratmakta, Samman and Sahyog and the PM asked the athletes to boost the morale of the nation and spreading positivity on social media in these dark times.
Ravi Shastri and Harbhajan support PM Modi's call to challenge the COVID-19 darkness with light
In a clip uploaded by shuttler Sai Praneeth, PM can be heard saying that he is confident that India will be rejuvenated by the inspiration that its sports stars can provide.
"Your suggestions will be taken note of. We are fighting this pandemic like Team India. I am confident that India will be rejuvenated by the inspiration provided by you," he said.
According to PMO, the sportspersons thanked PM Modi for ensuring frontline health care workers and police personnel involved in this battle get the respect they deserve for their selfless service.
A total of 49 athletes, along with sports minister Kiren Rijiju, participated in the video call.
PT Usha (Athletics), Yogeshwar Dutt (Wrestling), Pullela Gopichand (Badminton), Vishwanathan Anand (Chess), Hima Das (Athletics), Bajrang Punia (Wrestling), Manika Batra (Table Tennis), Rani Rampal (Hockey), Deepika Kumari (Archery), Mirabai Chanu (Weightlifting), Neeraj Chopra (Athletics), Sharad Kumar (Para Athletics - High Jump).
Apurvi Chandela (Shooting), Tarundeep Rai (Archery), Mary Kom (Boxing), Bhaichung
Bhutia (Football), Sardara Singh (Hockey), PV Sindhu (Badminton), Achanta Sharath Kamal (Table Tennis), Amit Panghal (Boxing), Gagan Narang (Shooting), Anju Bobby George (Athletics), Vinesh Phogat (Wrestling), Rohan Bopanna (Tennis).
Manu Bhaker (Shooting), Ankita Raina (Tennis), Sai Praneeth (Badminton), Srihari Natraj (Swimming), Harmeet Desai (Table Tennis), Abhishek Verma (Shooting), Avinash Sable (Athletics), KT Irfan (Athletics), Lovlina Boroghain (Boxing), Simranjeet Kaur (Boxing), Jeremy (Weightlifting), Bhavani Devi (Fencing), Pramod Bhagat (Para Badminton), Mamatha Poojary (Kabaddi).
Cricketers who participated in this call were Zaheer Khan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Mohammad Shami, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara and Yuvraj Singh.
The ministry source had told PTI the athletes have been requested to spread awareness about social distancing through their social media pages. "They will ask them to pass across the message of maintaining the lockdown. He will urge them to post videos to keep people occupied," the source revealed.
(PTI/India Today inputs)
