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As migrant workers head for home, BJP, Cong play politics in Punjab
BJP’s claim that its best efforts to stop the migrants from leaving the state failed because the government did not provide them any relief or benefits has been denied by the Congress
In the midst of the battle against the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress in Punjab are attempting to make the most of the migrant workers’ crisis.
As members of the state unit of the BJP claimed that the Congress-led government did not provide the migrants any relief or benefits, because of which they had left the state, the Congress blamed the worker exodus from around the country on the BJP, saying it had “abandoned” them.
In Mohali, around 1 lakh migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand have registered with the administration to go back to their states, of which around 12,000 have already left by trains and buses. Some have walked back. More trains to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are scheduled for the coming week from Mohali.
Sahibee Anand, national executive member, BJP Youth Wing, said on Monday: “We tried to stop some of the migrants who were going to Bihar, but they were adamant, saying that for the past two months they had not received any dry rations from the government.”
“The state government has not done anything to stop them. This will result in huge economic loss to industry and agriculture,” added Arun Sharma, BJP councillor.
Accusing the BJP of stooping “low in this time of crisis,” Rajinder Singh Rana, former district president of the Congress, Mohali, said, “migrant workers are not only leaving from Punjab, but the entire country as the Union government has failed to provide them food and shelter in the most difficult times.”
“It’s BJP’s habit to play dirty politics every time. Now the migrants have understood BJP politics in the entire country, and how they have been treated in this bad phase in their life,” said Rishabh Jain, senor deputy mayor.
He said he hoped they would be back in two months when the situation normalised.
