E-Paper
Do they know how many migrants died: Ashok Gehlot on PM Modi’s Covid sin jab
Addressing the Lok Sabha on Monday, Modi said, "During the first wave, when the country was in lockdown and when the WHO was advising everyone to stay wherever they are, Congress went to the Mumbai railway station to scare migrants.
Prefer HTon Google
Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech delivered in the Lok Sabha a day ago and said an atmosphere of violence, unrest and mistrust prevailed in the country.
Gehlot said, “The Prime Minister's comments in Parliament were unfortunate… No one knows in which direction the country is headed. There is an atmosphere of violence, unrest, and mistrust. Our allegations are against the NDA government, the BJP and the RSS. And the Prime Minister is saying we are provoking.”
Gehlot was referring to Modi’s statement accusing the Congress of giving free tickets to migrants to leave Maharashtra which had led to the spread of Covid-19 in other states.
Gehlot said it was the mistake of the Modi government due to which a nationwide lockdown was imposed without any preparation. “Do they have the figures of how many migrants who went back home on foot died? How many of them lost their lives on their way?” he said.
The Rajasthan chief minister also spoke about an “undeclared emergency” in the country.
Several other Congress leaders have attacked the PM's remarks regarding the migrant exodus when Covid-19 first struck India.
Addressing the Lok Sabha on Monday, Modi said, "During the first wave, when the country was in lockdown and when the WHO was advising everyone to stay wherever they are, Congress went to the Mumbai railway station to scare migrants.
"They pushed labourers to go back to their states. As a result, Covid-19 spread rapidly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand," Modi added and called it a 'Paap' (sin).
On Monday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi asked whether the Prime Minister wanted the migrants to receive no help when they were returning home on foot.
“Did he want that nobody should help them?” Gandhi said, while citing the PM’s addressing of big rallies amid the pandemic.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said a large portion of Modi's speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday was devoted to attacking his party. “His entire speech was an attack on the Congress party. It was a very political speech with a large portion devoted to attacking Congress... I suppose we ought to be flattered that he sees us this way,” Tharoor said.
