India’s Political Parties Spar Over Covid Crises as Polls Near
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were embroiled in a Twitter spat.
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that opposition parties were responsible for a migrant worker exodus from India’s cities during a stringent Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 has led to a Twitter spat between two state chief ministers ahead of a slew of local elections.
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of the most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, blamed the leader of the neighboring state of Delhi for the “inhumane” act of forcing poor workers to leave as the world was gripped by panic over the spread of the coronavirus. Adityanath is a member of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who heads the opposition Aam Aadmi Party, hit back, blaming Adityanath for spending millions of rupees on self promotion while the bodies of those who perished during India’s brutal second wave of infections were being washed down the Ganges river.
The spat follows Modi’s comments in Parliament Monday that opposition groups, including the Congress party, were responsible for the chaotic scenes that played out across India in late March 2020 when the prime minister announced one of the strictest stay-at-home orders in the world.
India’s handling of its Covid-19 crisis -- more than 42 million cases and 500,000 deaths have been reported since the pandemic first struck -- is expected to be one of the biggest challenges for Modi and the BJP as five states, including Uttar Pradesh, head to elections starting Thursday.
Uttar Pradesh, with a population of more than 230 million, is especially crucial to the BJP and Modi as he looks to secure a third term in national elections in 2024.
At the height of its second wave last summer, the country’s health infrastructure reached breaking point. News outlets from Adityanath’s state reported that thousands of bodies washed up on the banks of the Ganges river as people ran out of space to bury or cremate their relatives.
Modi also blamed Kejriwal’s government during his speech on Monday: “Those who are still in the Delhi Government used microphones, went to residential areas and told people to leave.”
Modi announced the lockdown in March 2020 with just a few hours of notice to the nation of nearly 1.4 billion. As cities shut down, jobs for millions of migrant laborers vanished. The workers, who subsist on daily wages, were forced to leave the cities they worked in and start desperate journeys to their rural village homes.
Many people had no choice but to walk or cycle hundreds of kilometers, dragging luggage and carrying children on their shoulders. Thousands perished on the way of starvation and accidents, including a group of migrant workers walking along railway tracks who fell asleep and were run over by a train.
Modi’s government had at the time said the federal government had directed states to prohibit movement of migrant workers to prevent infections. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court on March 31 that migrant workers on the move were shifted to shelter homes and relief camps and “there is no person walking on the roads in an attempt to reach his/her home towns/villages,” according to court documents.
Kejriwal called Modi’s statement in Parliament “completely false.” “It does not suit the prime minister to indulge in politics over the sufferings of the people,” he added.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
