Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shivanand Tiwari on Saturday condoled the death of 24 migrant workers in Uttar Pradesh's Auraiya and slammed Bihar Labour Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha for alleging that the opposition leaders were provoking the labourers to walk to their native places.
This comes after 24 migrant workers from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal were killed and several others injured after the truck they were travelling in, collided with another truck in Auraiya on Saturday morning.
"If the opposition was that strong, their government would not have survived so long. It is unfortunate that the opposition is so weak that we are unable to do anything other than give statements," Tiwari told when asked about Sinha's remark.
Earlier, Bihar Labour Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha had alleged that RJD and Congress leaders were provoking migrant workers to walk to their homes despite proper transport arrangements being provided by the state government.
"This is not the first time migrant workers of Bihar have been killed in an accident. What governments are these that cannot avail transport for these migrant workers. This is a failure on part of the governments. This shows that these poor people are neglected," Tiwari said.
"Migrant workers walking to their homes are saying they don't have any food and that they are surviving by drinking water on the road. Why can't food be arranged for them next to the roads every few kilometres," he asked.
Tiwari said that the State and Central governemnt have an anti-people attitude.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who claims to have seen poverty, doesn't even talk about the plight of these migrant workers in his address to the nation. He is not a party leader but the head of the country. Does this situation not pain his heart?" he said.
( With inputs from ANI )