BJP asks state units to ensure aid to labourers

nNEW DELHI: Migrant workers left jobless by the Covid-19 lockdown making their way back home on foot despite special trains and buses has emerged as a major challenge for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as it nears the completion of its first-year office after it swept back to power last year.

Three BJP functionaries said the party has taken a serious view of the ramifications of images of poor workers and their deaths in road accidents on its electoral politics.

Social welfare schemes for the poor are widely believed to have contributed to the BJP’S return to power last summer.

“The party has asked all its state units to redouble their efforts in reaching out to the poor and the needy and ensure that anyone seen walking is provided all necessary help,” said a BJP general secretary on the condition of anonymity.

The functionary said BJP president JP Nadda instructed all workers to take the responsibility of feeding over 50 million poor people across the country during the lockdown imposed in late March to check the pandemic spread.

The extension of the lockdown has resulted in the closure of workplaces, left lakhs without jobs and exacerbated the situation, the functionary added.

“Efforts are also underway by the government to bring unskilled, unorganized workers under the ambit of social security schemes. As was announced by the [Union] finance minister [Nirmala Sitharaman], rental housing and credit facility for small entrepreneurs and street vendors is also being worked out,” said a third functionary, who did not want to be named.