Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav hit out at Yogi Adityanath over migrants

Rahul says people of UP are not CM’s personal property; Akhilesh questions setting up of migrants commission

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for his remarks that states seeking to employ migrant workers from UP in the future will need to take his government’s permission. Rahul said people of UP are not his “personal property” and called his statement an “absurd position.”

“I think it’s unfortunate. I think people are first Indian and then they belong to their states… The decision on whether somebody goes to work from Uttar Pradesh to the rest of the country is not the chief minister’s… If a citizen of Uttar Pradesh wants to go and fulfill his dreams in Maharashtra or in Delhi or in Karnataka or anywhere else, he should have the right to do so. It is very unfortunate that the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh views India in such a way. These people are not his personal property. They are not the personal property of Uttar Pradesh. These people are Indian citizens and they have the right to decide what they want to do and they have the right to live the life they want to live,” Rahul said.

“It is our job to support them to fulfill their dreams. It is not our job to say that you belong to me, you cannot go and work in Maharashtra. It’s an absolutely an absurd position,” he added.

On Sunday, Adityanath while announcing the setting up of a migrant commission had said. “Now, if any state needs manpower, the UP government will give the manpower social security. We will give them insurance and security. But, without our permission, our people cannot be taken by other states. Because the kind of treatment that was meted out [to UP residents]. Seeing that, we have taken the people’s social security in our hands.”

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also questioned the UP government’s decision to form a separate commission for migrants in the state.

Akhilesh tweeted, “Now, a new commission is being constituted for labourers though the employment exchange already exists. Be it the Niti Aayog, new funds and now this labour issue…Why is this attempt to make something new instead of using what exists? This is the government’s way to divert attention from its failures and misuse of Jan Dhan (manpower and money).”

Meanwhile, the Congress on Tuesday accused Adityanath of targeting Dalits with his remark that a large number of migrant workers who had returned to the state were found suffering from the coronavirus.

On Monday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had criticised Adityanath for saying that 75 per cent of the workers returning from Mumbai were infected, questioning the math. In a video clip, Adityanath was heard saying that 50% of the workers returning from Delhi had Covid-19, and 25-30% from other states were similarly infected.

Congress leader PL Punia on Tuesday said the CM’s “misleading statement” could lead to “social hatred. “This statement by the Chief Minister would send a message among people that they are bringing the disease with them.

This amounts to conspiring against Dalits and the backwards,” Punia said. Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Misra said according to the government a little above 6,000 people had tested positive in the state, but going by Adityanath’s remarks the figure should be 10 lakh.

—With PTI