CPI(M) criticises treatment meted out to migrants, demands such 'criminality' be stopped

The CPI(M) on Monday criticised the treatment meted out to migrants who managed to return to their home states after the coronavirus lockdown was announced and demanded that such "criminality" be stopped.

It was reacting to two videos shared on social media on Monday -- one which showed migrant workers being hosed at Bareilly with a chlorine solution after their arrival from another state and the other one in which workers in Bihar were seen locked behind a gate upon their arrival purportedly in Siwan.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury questioned the preparedness of the NDA government for the lockdown.

"Do these Indians' lives not matter? Why are they trapped like this? Why no tests? Tests reserved for celebrities who party with BJP politicians? Is this how poor and vulnerable will be treated in a state with an NDA govt? Stop the criminality. Act against those who gave this order," he tweeted.

"This is absolutely shameful. The poor and the vulnerable are being robbed off their basic human dignity, after Modi's unplanned lockdown decision has caused a humanitarian crisis, adding to the medical one," he said retweeting the two videos.

Alleging that the government was trying to pass the buck to the states on the mass exodus that happened after the announcement of the lockdown on March 24, Yechury said it is criminal to direct the states to ensure that migrant workers don't move without a corresponding financial assistance.

"Modi cannot pass the buck. He and the Centre must take responsibility," he said.

"Those who are walking miles on the roads, braving hunger and state apathy, do not need fitness videos. They need immediate and urgent help from the Centre, which is its constitutional responsibility. What we see instead is PR. This is unacceptable. What is the meaning of this direction to employers to pay salaries at the workplace under a lockdown? Salaries must be credited to their accounts or delivered at home," he said.