ENTIRE COUNTRY HEARD CRIES OF MIGRANTS BUT NOT GOVT: SONIA
She also demanded that govt provide Rs 7,500 to each needy family for next 6 months
NEW DELHI: Hitting out at the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that the entire country has heard the cries of migrants “except the government”.
While launching the ‘Speak Up India' campaign, she said that her party's leaders hoped that the Centre will wake up from its slumber and help those affected by the Covid19-induced lockdown.
In a video message posted as part of the Congress' ‘Speak Up India' campaign, which was launched on Thursday, she also demanded that the government provide Rs 7,500 to each needy family for the next six months and Rs 10,000 as immediate cash to them.
The Congress president lamented that even though the country is passing through a serious economic crisis with
loss of livelihood, the Centre has not helped those affected.
“It is for the first time since Independence that such a spectre of pain and anguish has been witnessed, where
lakhs of famished and thirsty
labourers have been forced to walk hundreds of thousands of kilometres back home barefoot and without any access to medicines or transport,” she said.
“Everyone across the country except the government heard their cries of pain and trauma,” she said in her video message on the party's social media handles.
“Instead of loans, the government should provide financial relief to small and medium industry so that crores of jobs are saved and the country progresses,” she said.
Commenting on the initiative, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said, “It's time for every Indian to stand together and speak up in one voice. Speakupindia for our brothers and sisters struggling for survival; for those whose voice has been silenced; for those in despair and are fearful.”
“We are India. Together we can make a difference,” he said.
In a video message on social media, Rahul Gandhi said that the COVID-19 pandemic had triggered a storm across India. The worst-hit in the process have been the poor of the country, he said.
“Labourers have had to walk thousands of kilometres without food or water. And our small and medium industry, which is the country's backbone and the principal source of employment for many, are shutting down one after the other,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in her video message urged all political parties, especially the BJP, to stop playing politics on this.
“This is not the time to play politics, this is the time when the entire country should unite and when every politician gets together leaving aside his political leanings and differences and come out jointly to help people,” she said.
Meanwhile, the cases of grant of bail to Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu was not taken in the court as the UP government failed to produce the case diary. The next hearing will be on May 30.
Senior Congress leaders, workers and supporters from across the country participated in the campaign, which the party claimed had reached out to over 10 crore people on all social media platforms. Over 57 lakh party workers, supporters and leaders posted their message on social media asking the government to help those in need.