Yashwant Sinha targets BJP over violence against migrants in Gujarat

Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha Tuesday said the BJP government in Gujarat should have taken proactive measures to stop attacks on Hindi-speaking migrant workers in the state following a rape incident. 

Asked about the exodus of migrant workers, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, in the wake of attacks on them, Sinha said an entire community must not be held responsible for the misdeeds of one person. 

The attacks on Hindi-speaking people started in Gujarat after a man from Bihar, who worked in a factory, was arrested for allegedly raping a 14-month-old girl in a village in Sabarkantha district on September 28. 

"I do not want to blame anyone. But, it is the responsibility of a state to maintain law and order situation. The state government should have given police protection to these migrants in order to make them feel safe and protect them from any attacks," Sinha told mediapersons here. 

The former BJP leader said north Indians have contributed in the development of Gujarat, one of the most industrialised states in the country. 

"The way people are leaving Gujarat is totally uncalled for the situation for Gujarat. An entire community or group must not be held guilty for the misdeeds of one. North Indians have given a significant contribution to the development of Gujarat." 

The bureaucrat-turned-politician said the government should try to bring back migrants who have fled Gujarat due to fear. Sinha said Mahatma Gandhi was the first migrant from Gujarat and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi represents the Varanasi seat of Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha though he is from the western state. 

"Gujarat shares a special bond with north India. Gandhiji was the first migrant from Gujarat as he went to Champaran in Bihar as a political worker and took up satyagrah. Similarly, our PM is the Member of Parliament from Varanasi," the former Union finance minister said. 

Sinha was accompanied by BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha and Samajwadi Party (SP) national spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari. Since the rape incident, six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, have seen sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people. 

Shyam Singh Thakur, president of the Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Parishad, an outfit of north Indians in Gujarat, said more than 60,000 Hindi-speaking migrant labourers have fled the state so far. 

SP spokesman Tiwari said targeting an entire community has become a "new normal" under the Modi government. He claimed the BJP will suffer politically in Uttar Pradesh over the exodus of migrants hailing from the most populous state where the saffron outfit is in power. "Such things have never happened in the past. But, in these four years, it has become a routine affair wherein an entire community or a group has been punished for the misdeeds of one," Tiwari told reporters. 

"If the people from UP are not safe in Gujarat, then the BJP and the PM will also no longer remain safe in UP. Under the BJP, mobocracy is flourishing. 

"It was the responsibility of the state government to take action against perpetrators," the SP leader said.

(With inputs from agencies.)