Earlier on Monday, while replying to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in the Lok Sabha, the Prime Minister had said that Congress gave free train tickets to migrant workers to leave Mumbai which lead to the spread of COVID in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
"Congress crossed all limits during the first wave of COVID. During the first wave, when the country was in lockdown and when the WHO was advising everyone to stay wherever they are, Congress went to the Mumbai railway station to scare innocent people. They pushed labourers to go back to their states. As a result, COVID spread rapidly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand," said PM Modi, calling it "paap" (sin).
"You pushed labourers into crisis. In Delhi, the government went around slums in jeeps and announced on mics that whoever wants to go home, buses have been arranged. Infections then shot up in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where the coronavirus had not even spread that much. What kind of politics is this? How long will these politics continue? The entire country is shocked by the behaviour of the Congress," he added.
NCP leader Supriya Sule said it is painful to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeting Maharashtra, that significantly contributed to his party winning 18 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.
“The Indian Railways’ data reveals that 1,033 trains for migrant workers were run from Gujarat, while 817 Shramik trains were operated from Maharashtra,” she claimed.
“Goyal in his Twitter post on May 24, 2020 said that 125 Shramik Special trains were ready to be allotted to Maharashtra for the migrant workers to return home. He had asked the State to give a detailed list of migrant workers within an hour to the Railways,” the Lok Sabha member pointed out.
Ms. Sule further said BJP MP Harish Dwivedi last week proudly stated in his speech in the Lok Sabha that the Union Government had operated trains for migrant workers to reach their homes safely.
“Then why PM Modi is selectively talking about Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab in his speech?” she asked.
“It was painful for me to see PM Modi insulting Maharashtra when we were expecting him to speak on issues like China, unemployment. He is the Prime Minister of India and not of a party,” she said.
The NCP leader also referred to a tweet of senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis in which he had welcomed Mr. Goyal’s move of planning some trains for migrant workers from Maharashtra