A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition of scaring migrant workers into fleeing to their native states from Mumbai during the Covid-19 pandemic, Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday hit back claiming the PM's fixation with the 'Namaste Trump' event was responsible for the coronavirus spread in the country.

In February 2020, the then US President Donald Trump had visited India and also addressed a public gathering at a stadium in Ahmedabad as part of the 'Namaste Trump' event. Modi said in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Congress "crossed all limits" during the Covid-19 pandemic, and accused the party of instigating and scaring innocent labourers into fleeing to their native states from Mumbai.