BJP asks state units to ensure aid to labourers

Three BJP functionaries said the party has taken a serious view of the ramifications of images of poor workers, some with children and families, and their deaths in road accidents on its electoral politics.

Migrant workers left jobless by the Covid-19 lockdown making their way back home on foot despite special trains and buses arranged for them has emerged as a major challenge for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it nears the completion of its first-year office after it swept back to power last year.

A migrant worker carries her child, as they make their way across the border to their home state of Uttar Pradesh, during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease. (REUTERS)

Three BJP functionaries said the party has taken a serious view of the ramifications of images of poor workers, some with children and families, and their deaths in road accidents on its electoral politics. On Saturday, 24 migrants were killed and over 30 injured in the latest road accident involving them in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya.

The buses were arranged in late April while the trains from May 1. Many migrant workers have been unable to register to travel since they did not have identity papers.

Social welfare schemes for the poor are widely believed to have contributed to the BJP’s return to power last summer with the bigger majority of 303 members in the 543-member Lok Sabha, or Parliament’s lower House.

The functionary said BJP president JP Nadda had instructed all workers to take the responsibility of feeding over 50 million poor people across the country during the lockdown imposed in late March to check the pandemic spread. The extension of the lockdown has resulted in the closure of workplaces, left lakhs without jobs and exacerbated the situation, the functionary added.

“We are the only party that took the lead in providing food and shelter to the migrant workers. Lakhs of workers have turned up so far. The state has not only offered them shelter but also made arrangements for their employment in case they do not want to go back and also provide them immediate cash assistance,” said a party functionary in Uttar Pradesh.

In some states, BJP functionaries have been asked to urge migrant workers to stay back and benefit from central schemes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

“Efforts are also underway by the government to bring unskilled, unorganized workers under the ambit of social security schemes. As was announced by the [Union] finance minister [Nirmala Sitharaman], rental housing and credit facility for small entrepreneurs and street vendors is also being worked out,” said a third functionary, who did not want to be named.