Use BJP banners on buses if you want, but let them ferry migrant workers: Priyanka Gandhi

In a 10-minute video message released on Congress' social media handles, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra urged UP CM Yogi Aditysnath to leave political tussle between BJP and Congress and allow migrants to go back to their homes in the buses arranged by the Congress party.

New Delhi:Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, on Wednesday, appealed to the Uttar Pradesh Government to allow the movement of buses, which are currently stationed at the state border to ferry migrant workers.

"Today, at 4 pm, it will be 24 hours since the buses were made available, but are standing at the state's border. If you need them, give us permission. If you want to use BJP flags and banners over these buses, do it. If you want to say that you made these buses available, do it. But let these buses run to help the migrant workers," said Priyanka Gandhi to UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

A row erupted between the Congress party and UP Government over 1000 buses which the former had arranged to run for ferrying migrant labourers. However, as many as 600 buses are currently waiting at the state border to get permission from the government to enter the state. On the other side, the UP Government has alleged that the vehicles arranged by the opposition party are not up to the mark and some of them are two-wheelers and three-wheelers.

"If the state government is claiming that there is a fault in the details of these 1000 buses which our party had sent to them, then we are also ready to send a fresh list of buses," stated the Congress leader.

She alleged that the UP government insisted on producing the papers of these buses and delayed the initiative by wasting time in communication.

She added, "If you had allowed these buses to run, around 72000 migrants would have reached home by now. But they got engaged in politics. These buses are standing at Rajasthan-UP border since yesterday and they are of no help."

Calling migrant labourers the "spinal cord" of this country, she asserted that every political party should come together for this cause and help these migrant labourers reach their homes safely.

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"We'll have to understand our responsibilities. These migrant labourers aren't just Indians, these are India's spinal cord. The country runs on their blood and sweat. It's everyone's responsibility. This is not a time for politics," she said.

On Tuesday, Congress also urged the UP government to run only those 879 vehicles whose details have been permitted by the state government.

Priyanka tweeted, "UP government has crossed all the limits. When there is an opportunity to do away with political differences and serve helpless migrant labourers it has caused all the hindrances."

In her live video, she also said that Congress wants to help positively and doesn't want to indulge in politics. She mentioned that if UP government doesn't need these buses to ferry migrant labourers, then the Congress party is also ready to send them back, without creating any issue.

However, she added that her party will continue to help these migrant workers in every possible way. She informed that till date, the state unit of Congress has helped 66 lakh migrant labourers out of which 60 lakh were from UP itself.