By PTI
NEW DELHI: Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for accusing the opposition of “inciting” migrants to flee Mumbai during the COVID-19 lockdown and said that if looking after the stranded was wrong then they would commit this mistake “a 100 times”.
She said four hours before the lockdown was announced due to coronavirus, trains and interstate travel was stopped.
“Migrants, majorly daily wage labourers, were left stranded. If looking after them, with food and shelter, was wrong in the eyes of the PM, then (we) will make this mistake 100 times over…for humanity,” she said on Twitter.
Chaturvedi asked if the nation could forget the time when Shramik trains started, how the poor labourers, who were left with no income, were being charged for tickets and the state government stepped in to pay their fare.
“If that is a mistake in the eyes of the PM, (we are) willing to commit this mistake 100 times over,” she said.
The Shiv Sena leader also said that when the trains were taken in directions other than their destination, the passengers did not have meals or water.
“If providing relief to them was a mistake, will do this 100 times over. Can one forget the searing image of a mother lying dead and her two young kids unaware,” she said.
She asked that when the trains requested by states were not given to them, and the issue was politicised by the then rail minister in sheer arrogance of control, should the citizens of this nation have been left alone? “Have some sensitivity, some humility to sufferings faced before making these comments.
“If the PM would have watched closely, he would have seen how these migrant labourers, on reaching their homes, were first sprayed with sanitisers in abject humiliation. Was raising voice against the sufferings a mistake? If yes, will commit such mistakes 100 times over,” she said.
Chaturvedi, the Rajya Sabha MP of the Shiv Sena, said, “Last but not the least, the second wave was mismanaged because the central government was busy seeking votes at large rallies, disregarding preparations for scaling up beds, oxygen and medicines. It failed to stock vaccines. Have some honesty in discourse.”
