Congress plays the migrant card to push govt and BJP at bay
New Delhi: Congress offer to pay for the railways tickets of migrant workers seems to be a well thought out strategy.
In the party’s working committee meeting held twice during the lockdown, Congress sources said that party leaders suggested of going full throttle on the issue of the migrants, who were forced to travel to their hometowns by foot during the lockdown, before the government started train service to take them home.
It was decided that if the government didn’t come to the rescue of the migrant workers, the party will step in at the appropriate time, and that is why Rahul Gandhi and other Congress leaders raised the issue of migrants. And after late night deliberation with the top leadership, Congress has now seized the opportunity by offering to pay for the railway tickets of the migrants.
The party has asked its state units to set up a camp and buy tickets for the migrants who are coming to railway stations to go to their native places. The AICC has also offered to help states lacking resources.
Congress Treasurer Ahmed Patel has assured to help all the states in this matter, saying, “As directed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in my capacity as Treasurer, I request the Pradesh Congress Committees to mobilise all possible local resources to help the migrants purchase tickets to go back to their homes. Let us make this a people’s movement. Please contact AICC if you require assistance.”
Raising the issue of Indians stranded overseas, Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said that the government is not willing to handle this humanitarian issue. “The country has rich precedent of evacuating Indians stranded abroad. For the first time, they have been left to the mercy of god,” Shergill told IANS.