Modi Govt doesn't care about loss of lives of migrants: Congress

After the central govt's admission that it doesn't have any data on the deaths of migrant workers amid COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown, the Congress party lashed out at the ruling BJP. The party blamed the Modi led govt for the plight of migrants across the country and demanded compensation for the families of those migrants who died during the lockdown.

New Delhi: After the Central Government said in the Parliament that there is no data being collected on the deaths of migrant workers amid COVID-19 induced nationwide lockdown, Congress party, on Wednesday, blamed it for the plight migrants while demanded compensation for their families.

While initiating a discussion on COVID-19 in Rajya Sabha, Congress leader Anand Sharma said, "Why you don't have figures? Every state knows who died. They should be given compensation."

On Monday, the Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar said in a written reply that Center has no data about the death of migrants during the lockdown. While on Tuesday, the home ministry on another question replied that a large scale of migration of labourers had been triggered by "fake news".

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Congress leader Rashid Alvi said, "Government would have collected data of these migrant workers if they had any interest in them. This proves that the Central Government has to do nothing with the pain and suffering of these migrant workers. When they don't even collect data, how will they compensate these workers?"

"As per his habit, Prime Minister announced a nationwide lockdown suddenly because of which lakhs of poor migrant labourers walked hundreds of miles to reach their home states. A number of heartbreaking visuals came, capturing their plight, which got us teary-eyed but it seems like the Central Government just don't care about these migrant labourers." he further added.

Another Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said to ETV Bharat, "The Government has obviously muddled up. They should have names of migrants who died as well as the details of jobs that were lost. This is a completely insensitive and irresponsible government."

She added, "They are the ones who are responsible for the plight of the migrants because they mismanaged the economy as well as the Corona crisis, which is why today we have infections of more than 50 lakhs. Millions in this country have rendered jobless and the Government can't run away with its responsibilities."

After the Central Government announced nationwide lockdown in March 2020, to contain the spread of COVID-19, lakhs of migrant labourers left jobless. As the transport services were being shut across the country, lakhs of migrants walked back to their home states which led to the deaths of many of them due to various reasons.

On Tuesday, Congress former President Rahul Gandhi also tweeted a sharp retort to the Government's claim, saying, "Modi Government does not know how many migrants died during the lockdown, how many jobs lost. If you didn't count, did nobody died? The sad part is that the Government does not care about the loss of lives. The world saw them dying, Modi Government was unaware."