Congress plans online protest demanding aid for migrants

NEWDELHI:In the absence of mass protests amid social distancing norms during Covid-19 outbreak, the Congress has shifted gears to open online fronts.

The party is planning to hold an online nationwide protest on Thursday to put pressure on the Centre to accept its demands for providing financial assistance to farmers, migrant workers, daily wage earners and small businesses hit by the pandemic.

In a letter to all state unit chiefs, Congress general secretary incharge (organisation) KC Venugopal has asked them to mobilise around 5 million participants on all social media platforms to register their protest and highlight the “sufferings” of migrant workers, MSMEs and other distressed sectors.

“...lakhs of migrant workers, farmers, workers in the un-organized sectors, MSMEs, small scale businesses, fishermen and daily wage earners are in grave distress. They are struggling, without money, food, job and other essentials,” the letter read.

“For over two months now, since the nationwide lockdown began, our nation’s soul has been pained by the pictures and videos of our migrant workers desperately trying to get back to their hometowns. From walking hundreds of kilometres on our highways to packing into trucks, trailers and every form of transport, many of them have died on their long journey,” it added.

In the letter, Venugopal also said the Congress has been undertaking relief efforts and providing all possible support to migrants.

“Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have been giving suggestions to the central government to alleviate the sufferings of our workers. But instead of providing support, the government continues to ignore the plight and has failed to take any meaningful measures.”

Venugopal has also asked the state unit chiefs to ensure the participation of over 5 million workers and “sympathisers” in the campaign to be run on different social media platforms.