By Vivek Tripathi
Lucknow, May 20 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh has launched a scathing attack on the Congress party saying that while the Modi and Yogi governments are fighting the Covid-19 pandemic with full force, the opposition Congress is engaged in petty politics over the issue of migrants. He advised Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to take care of migrants in the party's own states, alleging that their condition is deplorable and the Rajasthan and Punjab governments did nothing to provide them with transportation.
In an exclusive interview with IANS, the UP BJP chief said the Congress is playing a dirty game over the issue of migrant labourers. He accused the Congress of orchestrating a bus scam in the name of providing transportation to the migrants. The Congress did nothing to provide bus services to the people of Uttar Pradesh living in Rajasthan and Punjab, but here they are doing drama.
"Migrants are sent in overloaded trucks from Punjab, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Why does'nt Congress speak for them? If they had done so, the lives of all those people who died in accidents could have been saved," Singh said.
He said the UP government is working overtime to bring back migrants from other states in trains and buses. "More than 15 lakh migrant labourers have been brought in so far from different states to UP. If other states were also pro-active, the situation would not have come to such a sorry pass," he said.
Singh alleged that the Congress always creates hurdles in the government's programmes. "See, they did not contribute a single paisa to the PM-CARES fund. They only do politics. They have nothing to do with the welfare of people," the UP BJP chief said.
On the question of Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav attacking the government for poor handling of the migrants crisis, Singh said, "He should go to Safai, his ancestral village, and ask labourers there, he will get the answer."
"This is the time to help the poor and not to do politics. The BJP has provided 2.94 crore people with food and ration kits. This is the figure till May 17 evening. The UP BJP workers have contributed Rs 56 crore to PM CARES fund, distributed 86 lakh masks and got 63,96,000 Aarogya Setu apps downloaded," Singh claimed.
On the question of the abrupt enforcement of the lockdown, Singh said the government had to take a quick decision at the appropriate time to tackle the crisis. If the lockdown was not enforced on time, the situation would have gone out of control, he said.
"Initially, we were able to control the spread of coronavirus in the state, but first Tablighi Jamaat and then the migrant labourers exacerbated the problem. But I am hopeful that despite all this, we will soon bring the number of infected persons down," he said.
Some BJP leaders have questioned the Yogi government over the poor handling of the crisis. On this, Singh said, "If some one feels that some officer is indulging in corruption, he should report the matter in the appropriate forum of the party. All concerns will be addressed," he said.
On the coming panchayat elections, the UP BJP president said the party has put the strategy in place. He said coordinators have already been appointed at the village level, even booth in-charges have been appointed to oversee the preparations.