Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed the nation on Friday which has become the third prime ministerial address to the Indian people over the Coronavirus outbreak and through his short video message, Modi, for yet another time, reiterated that the people must stand in solidarity in the fight against Coronavirus, which has been declared as the global pandemic.

In his address that lasted for nearly fifteen minutes, Modi has aired a special message to the people. He appealed to everyone to turn off the lights in their houses and to stand on the balconies and doorways for nine minutes at 9 pm on April 5th and called the people to light a candle, torch, or the mobile phones to fight the darkness spread by the coronavirus with the light.

A video messsage to my fellow Indians. https://t.co/rcS97tTFrH

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 3, 2020

He stated that if everyone lights a torch each, the country would realize the power of the light through which the people would uphold the objective of what the country is fighting together. By calling on people to spread the lights, Modi said that during this lighting diya, no one should gather in a group and no one should assemble on the roads or streets. Everyone must spread the light from the balconies and doorways of their respective residences.

He vowed that the nation is not alone and this is the power of 130 crore people and the Indian people had set an example of discipline and service during the first week of the nationwide lockdown and the global countries are adopting the same measures to combat the virus. He further stated that in the middle of the darkness spread by the global pandemic, the nation must constantly travel towards reaching the light. 

Modi's address has come a day after he convened the video-conferencing meeting with all the Chief Ministers during which he took stock of the situation over the spread of the virus. On Thursday, he tweeted that "At 9 AM tomorrow morning, I’ll share a small video message with my fellow Indians." This is his third address to the nation amid the outbreak and in his previous televised addresses, Modi urged the people to observe social distancing, maintain self-isolation, and refrain from unnecessary travels to contain the spread of the virus, which has infected nearly 2300 people and claimed 50 people so far.

On March 22nd, Modi announced a 21-day unprecedented nationwide lockdown across the country to curb the spread of the virus and on Friday, the nation has marked its ninth day of the lockdown period.