Congress: Gujarat unwilling to stop attacks on migrants

Narendra Modi

The Congress on Tuesday hit out at Gujarat government saying it was unwilling to prevent violence on the migrants even as it assailed Uttar Pradesh and Bihar governments for giving a "clean chit" to the Vijay Rupani-led BJP dispensation.

The Congress also questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence and demanded an apology from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for claiming that there were no attacks on the migrants from his state in Gujarat.

"The situation in Gujarat is extremely volatile. It seems the Gujarat government is both incapable and unwilling to stop these incidents which have now spread to central Gujarat," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari.

"Ridiculousness and preposterousness have touched a new high. To please the Prime Minister, the Chief Ministers of UP and Bihar, instead of empathising with their people and trying to prevail upon the central and Gujarat governments to act, are in an overdrive giving a clean chit to the Gujarat government," said Tewari.

The former Union minister was referring to Adityanath's recent assertions that there was not a "single incident of attack" on the migrants and that there were merely rumours spread by those who were jealous of Gujarat.

Tewari also referred to Bihar Additional Director General of Police S.K. Singhal's remarks that migrant workers were not fleeing Gujarat, rather returning to their home state to celebrate festivals.

"People are fleeing Gujarat in fear and Adityanath claims no such violence. What is more shocking is Singhal saying they are coming back because of festivals," said Tewari, claiming that over 50,000 migrant workers have fled Gujarat since the violence broke out a few days back.

The Congress leader demanded Adityanath to publicly apologise for his insensitivity and urged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take strong action against Singhal. Targeting Modi, Tewari questioned his "deafening" silence on the issue.

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