A war of words broke out between Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on the migrant exodus from Delhi following the 2020 nationwide COVID lockdown, in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The Prime Minister blamed the Delhi Government of spooking migrant workers residing across the city through sponsored announcements exaggerating the scale of the situation.
"They told them the danger is immense, go to your village, go home. Then they gave them buses, abandoned them halfway and plunged them into multiple problems," he said.
"And because of that," Mr. Modi continued, "corona picked up speed in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab -- places where it was not as severe had it not been for this sin which aggravated it," he said.
Reacting to the PM’s charges, Mr. Kejriwal termed them "completely false" and accusing him of politicking on deaths.
“This statement by the Prime Minister is completely false. The country hopes that the Prime Minister will be sensitive to those who have suffered pain during the Corona period, especially those who lost their loved ones. It does not suit the Prime Minister to do politics on the sufferings of the people" he tweeted.
Mr. Adityanath jumped into the fray in retaliation, condemning the Delhi Chief Minister's comments on the Prime Minister and demanded that Mr. Kejriwal issue an apology.
He also accused Mr. Kejriwal of forcing migrant workers out of the capital, and leaving them to fend for themselves.
"Listen Kejriwal, You forced the workers of UP to leave Delhi when humanity was groaning due to the pain of Corona. Your government did an undemocratic and inhuman act like leaving even small children and women helpless on the UP border in the middle of the night," he tweeted.
The U.P. CM also alleged that migrant workers were "picked up and sent to the UP border by buses."
"Announcement was made that buses are going for Anand Vihar, beyond that buses will be available for UP-Bihar. The UP government arranged buses for the migrant laborers and brought them back safely," he tweeted.
Over eight lakh migrant workers left the Capital for their hometowns in the first four weeks of the lockdown, according to a report prepared by the Delhi Transport Department in May last year.
Lakhs of them had taken to the streets and highways across the National Capital Region (NCR) in a bid to walk to their home towns during and after the first national lockdown in 2020.
