'When can people get vada pav on streets?' asks Raut, CM has epic reply

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray

In an interview with Shiv Sena's mouthpiece 'Saamna' with party MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said, "I'm not Donald Trump. I cannot see my people suffer in front of my eyes."

The teaser of the interview was shared by Raut on his Twitter handle and is doing rounds on social media. The interview will be released on July 25-26 in two parts.

US President Donald Trump has been widely criticised for his way of handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, who is running for re-election in November, is also facing flak for putting his political interests before human life by aggressively pushing states to reopen their crippled economies, against the recommendations of health experts to move cautiously. As of July 21, more than 3.8 million cases have been confirmed in the US and over 140,000 deaths have been recorded.

Meanwhile, Uddhav Thackeray has been cautious about easing restrictions across the state as Maharashtra's daily tally continued to range over the 8,000-level for the past few days. On Tuesday, the state recorded 8,369 new cases and 246 deaths. With the fresh fatalities, the death toll in Maharashtra went up to 12,276, while the total tally is 3,27,031 - both highest in the country.

According to Tuesday's figures, there was one death roughly every 6 minutes and a staggering 349 new cases every hour. The recovery rate marginally dropped from 54.92 per cent on Monday to 54.72 per cent on Tuesday, while the current mortality rate stood at 3.75 per cent.

In the teaser, Sanjay Raut can be seen asking the chief minister that when will Vada Pav, a popular snack, be available on the streets of Mumbai and he also adds that people are fed up with the restrictions. Thackeray replies, "We are opening the city systematically. I'm not Donald Trump. I cannot see my people suffer in front of my eyes. People should not think that kids can't contract the virus."

"As the government, I will take all the necessary measures, regardless of the criticism. The lockdown is still in place. We are giving relaxations and opening up one by one," the chief minister can be seen telling Raut in the teaser video.

Uddhav Thackeray also explains why Maharashtra, despite wanting to conduct exams, cannot hold them at this stage. His son, also a Cabinet Minister and Yuva Sena President, Aaditya Thackeray had moved the Supreme Court to challenge the University Grants Commission's (UGC) decision to hold final-year examinations before September 30.

Aaditya Thackeray Slams HRD Ministry, UGC For Announcing Final Year Exams

On Saturday, Aaditya Thackeray had tweeted, "Today Yuva Sena has filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court with a humble prayer to save lives of lakhs of students, teachers, non-teaching staff and their families by asking the UGC to not be stubborn about enforcing examinations when India has crossed the 10 lakh cases mark."

Yuva Sena has requested the Supreme Court that each university may be allowed to chart out its own plan of action with respect to terminal semester/final-year examinations depending on the conditions in their respective states so as to provide relief to students.

In a recent interview with Sanjay Raut, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had praised Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for deciding to ease restrictions during the lockdown at the right time in his ‘cautious approach'. Read more here.

More than a week ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO) had praised the efforts taken to contain the coronavirus in Dharavi, while saying that only aggressive action combined with national unity and global solidarity can turn this pandemic around.

WHO Praises Efforts To Contain COVID-19 In Dharavi

"There are many examples from around the world that have shown that even if the outbreak is very intense, it can still be brought back under control," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO DG, had said.

Following this, the Office of the Maharashtra Chief Minister tweeted, "Asia's largest slum & densely populated area like Dharavi has not only shown the World that through collective effort Corona can be controlled but has also made a name for itself globally as a role model in the fight against Corona said the Hon'ble CM Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray."

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