Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a meeting via video conference with 40 elite sportspersons of the country including Indian captain Virat Kohli, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Mary Kom on the ongoing situation in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic. This is the first time that the PM has interacted with sports personalities since the 21-day lockdown was enforced on March 24 to contain the spread of the virus.
The other prominent people included PT Usha, Pullela Gopichand, Vishwanathan Anand, Hima Das, Bajrang Punia, PV Sindhu, Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Cheteshwar Pujara.
"Interacted with sportspersons via video conferencing on the situation arising due to COVID-19. Sports requires self-discipline, tenacity, teamwork and a fighting spirit. These are also required to defeat Coronavirus," PM Modi tweeted.
"From sharing videos that reaffirm the importance of fitness, helping the poor and needy, emphasising on social distancing as well as contributing to efforts such as PM-CARES, our sportspersons are doing excellent towards making India free from COVID-19," he added in another tweet.
PM Modi praised the sportspersons for bringing glory to the nation through their "stellar performances on the field," and told them that they now they have an important role to play in boosting the morale of the nation as well as spreading the message of social distancing along with asking people to continuously follow advisories given during the lockdown.
The Prime Minister also asked them to include the following five points in their message to people: 'sankalp' to fight the pandemic, 'sanyam' to follow social distancing, 'sakaratmakta' to maintain positivity, 'samman' to respect the frontline soldiers in this battle including the medical fraternity, the police personnel etc and 'sahyog' at personal level as well as at national level through contribution to PM-CARES fund.
He also asked them to highlight the importance of both physical and mental fitness and also popularize guidelines released by AYUSH Ministry.
The sportspersons praised PM Modi's leadership in this challenging time, according to a Press Information Bureau release.
They also thanked him for ensuring that the frontline healthcare workers and police personnel involved in this battle get the respect they truly deserve for their selfless service.
They also discussed the importance of discipline, mental strength, following a fitness regimen and taking steps to boost immunity.
Earlier in the day, PM Modi urged people to gather together for a unique exercise on April 5 at 9 pm to show they were together in the fight against coronavirus.
"On this Sunday, April 5, we will challenge the darkness of coronavirus threat together. On April 5, at 9 pm, I need your 9 minutes. At 9 pm, turn off all the lights in your houses and light a Diya, candle, torch or flashlight for 9 minutes at your doors, or balcony," PM Modi said.
The Prime Minister further said that this will send out a message that nobody among the 130 crore Indians is alone in this fight against the deadly infection.