India is witnessing a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases after months of declining numbers. While many states are affected by the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak, Maharashtra and Delhi are amongst the worst hit. To tackle the exponential rise in the COVID cases, the Maha Aghadi Govt led by Uddhav Thackeray in Maharashtra and the Arvind Kejriwal Govt in Delhi have announced rigorous lockdowns in the state.
The panic created by this sudden announcement has compelled migrants workers, who endured lockdown infused difficulties during the first wave of the infection last yerar as well, to return to their native places.
As the mass exodus of migrant workers continues, Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal-led government seems to remain nonchalant over the issue. Likewise, in the western state of Maharashtra, the migrant labourers have been left to fend for themselves by the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Rahul Gandhi asks Modi government to clean Kejriwal and Uddhav Thackeray’s mess
Basically, the migrant exodus in Delhi and Maharashtra began after Kejriwal and Uddhav Thackeray announced hurried lockdowns in their respective states and moreover because of the mismanagement of crisis by the state government. Interestingly, though the state-imposed lockdowns have triggered the migrant exodus, Thackeray’s partner and Congress supremo Rahul Gandhi has asked the Modi government to pay for the migrant labourers.
The Gandhi Scion has taken to Twitter to claim that it was the responsibility of the Centre to deposit money into the accounts of the migrant labourers who were leaving the states.
प्रवासी एक बार फिर पलायन कर रहे हैं। ऐसे में केंद्र सरकार की ज़िम्मेदारी है कि उनके बैंक खातों में रुपय डाले।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) April 20, 2021
लेकिन कोरोना फैलाने के लिए जनता को दोष देने वाली सरकार क्या ऐसा जन सहायक क़दम उठाएगी?#Lockdown
“Migrants are on the move again. In this situation, it is the responsibility of the Central government to deposit money in their accounts. But will a government that is blaming the people for spreading COVID-19 take such a step?”, Tweeted the Gandhi scion after the Delhi and Maharashtra govt’s shocking indifference to the plight of the migrant workers compelled them to leave the states.
Though technically it is the responsibility of the state government’s to look after the needs of the migrant workers working in the states, Rahul Gandhi has previously also cast aspersions on the central government for the plight of migrant labourers during the first wave of the pandemic in 2020. He had hit out at the PM Modi-led government for imposing an ‘unscientific lockdown’.
One wonders now why the Gandhi scion is mum about the arbitrary lockdowns imposed by the Delhi government and more importantly the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra, of which his party in an integral part of.
Migrant workers leave Delhi and Maharashtra in the wake of the lockdown announcements
In the light of the worsening coronavirus crisis in the national capital, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today announced a strict 6-day lockdown in Delhi. The lockdown, he said, will come into effect at 10 pm on Monday, and be in force till 5 am next Monday. Moreover, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra has announced a state-wide lockdown till April 30.
Just like the Delhi government’s shocking indifference to the plight of the migrant workers, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra also showed little concerns for the migrant population in its state. The unfortunate exodus of migrant workers in Delhi and Maharashtra not only reflects the disastrous handling of the coronavirus outbreak by the respective state governments but also reveals that addressing the problems of the migrant population is not among their priorities.
