There is a lockdown in progress and Maharashtra Police is responsible for maintaining it. In the midst of this, a crowd of thousands of people gathers in Bandra. Who should be held responsible?
If you want to believe liberal media, it is the fault of anyone but the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The blame was laid variously on the Railway Ministry, on some private news channels and even the government of Gujarat was dragged into the situation for some reason.
Why stop there? At this point, I am surprised they haven’t asked why BJP ruled Karnataka or Goa are not taking responsibility for workers in Maharashtra. Or why Yogi Adityanath has not arranged special trains to take people back to Uttar Pradesh?
After all, when a large crowd gathered in Delhi a few weeks ago, everyone was asking why Uttar Pradesh government has not arranged for buses to take them to their villages. The workers were fleeing from Delhi towards Uttar Pradesh. You’d think somebody would ask the government of Delhi to explain why people had to flee their state.
But no! By the strange logic of liberalism, the onus was on Uttar Pradesh to rescue people from Delhi. And why stop with Uttar Pradesh? Delhi hosts migrant workers from many other states such as Bihar and Jharkhand. I guess it is also up to the Chief Ministers of Bihar and Jharkhand to arrange for people to be picked up all the way from Delhi.
First, let us clarify something about so called “migrant workers.” The term essentially means nothing. So called migrant workers are not foreigners. They are Indians who are exercising their fundamental right to reside and settle in any part of India. Someone from Uttar Pradesh who lives and works in Maharashtra or Delhi or Karnataka or Gujarat is as much an integral part of the state as anyone else. To even suggest that the state government of Delhi or Maharashtra can abdicate responsibility for their welfare, that too on ethnic basis, is deeply offensive and deeply unconstitutional.
But who will explain this to our seven star socialists?
Yes, at a time of crisis, let us all find a way for richer states to send the poor back to their states of origin.
Past precedence in Maharashtra
The other day, when a group of privileged persons was given a special letter allowing them to flout the lockdown in Maharashtra, the blame went to a bureaucrat, not the politicians in charge. Later it was even pointed out that the particular bureaucrat had been put in charge by the previous government of Devendra Fadnavis!
This is quite frankly, comical. Not least for the fact that the Shiv Sena was actually a coalition partner in Fadnavis’ government! In fact, why stop with blaming Fadnavis? I hear the bureaucrat was a 1992 batch officer. Let us blame every political boss under whom he has received any appointment since 1992. Instead of asking the sitting Chief Minister to take responsibility.
Or take this incident.
I cannot help wondering. What if patients had to stay under a flyover in say Uttar Pradesh? A few days back, a visual of people in UP being made to squat and sprayed with chemical became a story of national importance. Is it any more dignified when patients are huddled under a bridge?
Right now, Maharashtra is in a difficult situation and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has a difficult job on his hands. As Indians, we all stand with him and wish him the very best in this difficult mission. The least he can do in return is assure us that he takes responsibility for what happens within his state.
