Migrant labourers leaving Delhi during to Covid-induced lockdown.
Highlights
- Yogi Adityanath tweeted that Kejriwal has a knack of telling lies & asked him to apologize
- Kejriwal retorted, saying "I have never seen such a harsh and cruel ruler like you”
- On Monday, PM Modi had said that Congress & AAP instigated migrants to defy Covid lockdown
A war of words broke out between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement made in the Lok Sabha on migrant exodus during the Covid-induced lockdown in 2020.
Soon after the Prime Minister's speech, Kejriwal and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi called PM Modi's statement a 'blatant lie'.
“This statement by the Prime Minister is completely false. The country hopes that the Prime Minister will be sensitive to those who have suffered pain during the Covid period, especially those who lost their loved ones. It does not suit the Prime Minister to do politics on the sufferings of the people" he tweeted.
UP's CM Adityanath was quick to lambast Kejriwal in a series of tweets. He accused Kejriwal of forcing migrant workers out of Delhi during the lockdown. He said that when the whole country was fighting against the pandemic under the leadership of the Prime Minister, Delhi CM Kejriwal showed the migrant laborers the way out of Delhi.
"Listen Kejriwal, You forced the workers of UP to leave Delhi when humanity was groaning due to the pain of Corona. Your government did an undemocratic and inhuman act like leaving even small children and women helpless on the UP border in the middle of the night," he tweeted in Hindi.
Adityanath also charged that the Delhi Chief Minister had cut the electricity and water of migrant labourers in order to force them to leave the national capital.
"The electricity-water connection was cut and the sleeping people were picked up and sent to the UP border by buses. Announcement was made that in Anand Vihar, buses will be available for UP-Bihar. The UP government arranged buses for the migrant laborers and brought them back safely," the tweet read.
He added that the AAP leader's criticism of PM Modi’s speech was condemnable and demanded an apology.
"Today's statement of Arvind Kejriwal about the respected Prime Minister is highly condemnable. Arvind Kejriwal should apologize to the entire nation," he tweeted.
Kejriwal later posted a reply to his UP counterpart's allegations. He tweeted, “Listen Yogi, you just let it be. Dead bodies of the people of UP were flowing in the river and you were giving advertisements of your false applause in Times magazine by spending crores of rupees. I have never seen such a harsh and cruel ruler like you.”
PM Modi had on Monday said that during the first wave of COVID, the Congress crossed all limits and committed the big sin of prompting migrant workers to leave Mumbai to spread the disease in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He added that the Delhi government also did it.
"The infection spread in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab due to this sin," he said in the Lok Sabha while replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address. "Your conduct made the country think that you don't consider the country yours. People's 'sukh-dukh' is not yours."
Congress retaliates
Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala too jumped into the fray in retaliation. Surjewala accused PM Modi of mocking the misery of people who lost their lives and livelihood in the pandemic. "Those pushing workers and their families into the whirlpool of misery due to the lockdown, instead of apologising are now questioning the helping hands," he said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also reacted to PM Modi's charge. "People whom he had deserted, who had no way of returning to their homes, who were coming back on foot - did he want that nobody should help them? What about the big rallies he did?" she said while alleging that PM Modi conducted rallies during Covid.
According to a report released by the Delhi Transport Department last year, around 8 lakh migrant workers had left the national capital for their hometowns in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and other states during the first four weeks of the lockdown in March-April 2020. Lakhs had taken to the streets and highways in a bid to walk to their villages as the government had completely suspended operation of air, road and rail travel to restrict the movement of people to arrest the spread of vrius.
READ MORE: Congress has become leader of tukde-tukde gang: PM Modi in Lok Sabha | Top quotes
