Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party governments at the Centre and in States for aggravating the migrant crisis and politicising such a grave issue.
“The entire Congress party, including all party-led States, were working day and night to support the migrant labourers in this hour of crisis, with my own government having already arranged 149 trains to ferry 178909 migrants to their native States till May 16,” said the Chief Minister, adding that the process of facilitating the labourers to go to their homes was still continuing in Punjab.
Reacting strongly to Nirmala Sitharaman’s comment that Congress president Sonia Gandhi should have asked her Chief Ministers to help the migrants, Captain Amarinder said the Congress chief had been holding regular interactions with the party Chief Ministers on this and other critical Covid-19 and lockdown relates issues.
The Punjab Chief Minister also flayed Ms. Sitharaman’s remarks that former Congress president Rahul Gandhi should have walked with the migrants when he met them, terming it highly frivolous and totally unbecoming of a senior Central Minister.
Entry of buses
“Instead of ridiculing Rahul, who came out on the roads to extend support and compassion to the migrants, Nirmala should have spoken to the Chief Minister of the BJP-led U.P. government to allow entry to the buses arranged by Priyanka Gandhi to transport migrants,” he said, referring to the buses that were stranded at the Delhi-U.P. border on account of the Uttar Pradesh administration’s refusal to let them enter the State.
