The Congress is responsible for the plight of migrant workers in the entire country, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati said on Saturday.
In a series of tweets, she termed ‘nautanki’ or theatrics the video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacting with migrants in Delhi.
The BSP stayed away from a meeting of Opposition parties hosted on Friday by the Congress to discuss the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout. Representatives of 22 Opposition parties attended the meeting.
“The Congress is the real culprit in the plight of crores of migrant workers in the entire country due to the coronavirus lockdown. Had it provided enough employment opportunities, no worker would have left his home State. There would have been no exodus today,” she wrote on Twitter.
Referring to Mr. Gandhi’s video , Ms. Mayawati said that instead of indulging in theatrics, “it would have been better had the Congress told how many people it had genuinely helped...”
Also read: Congress indulging in theatrics over migrant workers, says Nirmala Sitharaman
She also urged the BJP not to follow in the footsteps of the Congress. “If the BJP government, instead of following in the footsteps of the Congress, arranges livelihood for these returning workers and makes them self-reliant in their villages, perhaps they will never have to face such a crisis again,” she said.
Congress general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi wrote on Twitter that the party had so far helped nearly 67 lakh people. She said Congress workers had worked tirelessly in the last 60 days to arrange ration, cooked food and medicines for those who were stranded or walking home. Rattled by the good work of her party, the BJP government arrested party State president Ajay Kumar Lallu.
