Railways subsidising 85 pc fare, only some oppn-ruled states made migrants pay: BJP

Rejecting as "lie" Sonia Gandhi's charge that the Modi government is making migrants pay their train fare to return home, the BJP said on Monday that it is some opposition-ruled states which did so even though the railways had subsidised 85 per cent of the ticket cost, leaving only 15 per cent for the state governments. The ruling party also accused the Congress president of promoting indiscriminate movement of people which, it said, would lead to "faster spread" of coronavirus infection "just like we saw in Italy", and asked if this is what she wants. A bevy of BJP leaders, including its general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, hit out at the opposition party over the issue, with its spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain accusing it of launching a "disinformation campaign" against the Centre out of "malice". "Sonia Gandhi's allegation against the central government that it is making migrants pay their train fare is misleading and a lie to spread confusion. Equally absurd and laughable is the claim that the Congress will bear the cost of their tickets," Hussain said in a statement. It would have been better if she had asked Congress-run states to pay for the train fare as states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharashtra are doing politics over it, he said, alleging it is the opposition party's culture to "sow seeds of poison" in society. The counter-charge from the BJP came after Congress president Sonia Gandhi hit out at the central government for "making migrants pay" their train fare and asked her party's state units to pick the tab. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also took a swipe at the railways, saying on one hand it is seeking ticket fare from people stranded in various states while on the other it is donating Rs 151 crore to the PM-CARES Fund. In a series of tweets, BJP general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh said only Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Kerala governments made migrant labourers pay Rs 1000 for journey.

"The Congress which runs the first, is partner in second, is promoter of the third wakes up early in the morning & issues a statement telling the party will pay for it," he said, taking a dig at the rival party. Tripura, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand governments have paid train fare either for their state residents or for trains starting from their state, he said. Do states where these migrant labourers have toiled hard for days, months and years have no responsibility, he questioned and said people should "wake up before jumping to conclusions". Hitting out at Rahul Gandhi, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra tweeted, "Rahul Gandhi ji, I have attached guidelines of MHA which clearly state that 'No tickets to be sold at any station'. Railways has subsidised 85% & state govt to pay 15%. The state govt can pay for the tickets (Madhya Pradesh's BJP govt is paying). Ask Cong state govts to follow suit." The BJP leader further clarified that for each 'Shramik Express', special trains being run for migrants to take them back to their native places during the lockdown, about 1,200 tickets to the destination are handed by the railways to the state government concerned.

State governments are supposed to clear the ticket price and hand over the tickets to workers, he said. He said the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is doing so and asked Rahul Gandhi to tell the Congress-ruled states to follow suit. Targeting Sonia Gandhi, BJP's information technology department in-charge Amit Malviya tweeted, "Congress is obviously upset at how well India has handled Covid. "They would have ideally wanted a lot more people to suffer and die. Promoting indiscriminate movement of people would lead to faster spread of infection, just like we saw in Italy. Is this what Sonia Gandhi wants?" Hussain added that the Modi government has already taken a series of measures to help the poor, including unveiling of a Rs 1.70 lakh crore package.