Whole world saw deaths of migrants, only Narendra Modi government was not aware of it: Rahul Gandhi slams Centre

New Delhi: Congress leader and party's Member of Parliament from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked the Narendra Modi government at the Centre a day after it informed the Parliament that there is ''no data available on migrant labourers’ deaths'' due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown across the country.

Training his guns at the Centre, Rahul said the whole world saw the deaths but only the Narendra Modi government was unaware of it.

In a four-line verse in Hindi, the Congress leader responded by saying the Modi government does not know how many migrant labourers died and how many jobs were lost during the lockdown.

The Gandhi scion took to Twitter and tweeted, “Did the death not take place if you did not count? But yes, it is sad that the government was unaffected by it. The world saw their deaths, only the Modi government was not aware of it." 

मोदी सरकार नहीं जानती कि लॉकडाउन में कितने प्रवासी मज़दूर मरे और कितनी नौकरियाँ गयीं।

तुमने ना गिना तो क्या मौत ना हुई?
हाँ मगर दुख है सरकार पे असर ना हुई,
उनका मरना देखा ज़माने ने,
एक मोदी सरकार है जिसे ख़बर ना हुई।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 15, 2020

His tweets came a day after Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told the Lok Sabha on Monday that the government does not have data on the number of migrants who died or were injured while returning to their native places due to the lockdown.

Gangwar said this in Lok Sabha in response to a question by BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab.

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Mahtab also asked whether the government has taken adequate measures to safeguard social, economic, legal and health rights of migrant labourers before implementing lockdown in the country due to COVID-19.

"India, as a nation, has responded through the central government, state governments, local bodies, self-help groups, resident welfare associations, medical health professionals, sanitation workers as well as a large number of genuine and bonafide non-governmental organizations in the nation's fight against the unprecedented human crisis due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and country-wide lockdown," the Minister said in his reply.

It may be recalled that the former Congress chief is accompanying his mother Sonia Gandhi during her trip to the US for a routine medical check-up.

A nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25 to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. There was an exodus of a large number of migrant workers to their native places from different parts of the country during the lockdown. 

The lockdown restrictions were eased by the Centre from late May.