NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video message urging people to light lamps or diya on April 5 evoked a sharp response from the opposition parties who slammed the Prime Minister for not addressing the “real issues”.Opposition parties including Congress, Trinamool Congress, Left, NCP, Shiv Sena expressed deep disappointment over PM's video message.Calling him a “showman” some even dubbed to Modi’s appeal to light lamps on Sunday as a gimmick.“Turn out lights & come on balconies? GET REAL MR. MODI!", Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra tweeted."Give India fiscal pkg worth 8-10pc of GDP. Ensure immediate wages to construction & other labour during lockdown-laws exist permitting this. Stop gagging real press in name of curbing fake news”Senior Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor , P Chidambaram and the party’s Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury hit out at the Prime Minister for failing to “ease people’s pain” at this juncture when the Corona related fears and financial discomforts were growing across the country.Tharoor tweeted saying, “Listened to the Pradhan Showman. Nothing about how to ease people’s pain, their burdens, their financial anxieties. No vision of the future or sharing the issues he is weighing in deciding about the post-lockdown. Just a feel-good moment curated by India’s Photo-Op Prime Minister!”Chidambaram said, “symbolism was important, serious thought to ideas and measures is equally important.” The former finance and home minister criticised the Prime Minister’s failure to announce financial measures for the poor, whose livelihoods have been affected by the ongoing nationwide lockdown.”Chowdhury said, there is no relation between turning off lights and fighting coronavirus . “I believe it and that’s why I’ll not light candle or turn off light but continue to fight COVAID-19..,”in a tweet.Taking a dig at Modi, AIMIM chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said, India was a country and not an “event management company... lives should not be reduced to “gimmics”.NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said, it was expected Modi would speak about measures being taken to combat Covid-19, but people were instead asked to light lamps.Erstwhile ally-turned rival Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said: “When people were asked to clap, they crowded the roads and beat drums. I just hope now they don’t burn down their own houses.”CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury tweeted: “For a 21-day countrywide lockdown, there was a 4 hour notice. For clapping 2 days, and now for candles, a 2.5 days notice. The Centre must act and be accountable on specific points that merit immediate attention.”