A Bihar minister on Saturday
disapproved of the Uttar Pradesh government sending buses to bring back students from the state stranded in Kota, and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot calling upon other states to follow suit, terming it a "mockery" of the nationwide lockdown prompted by COVID-19.
"Dear Sir, will it not be a severe blow to the #lockdown and a mockery of it!
"So far, we've done well in containing #COVID-19# compared to many countries owing to restraint & good work of all. Why dilute this? Also has Rajasthan called back all outstation students?" Sanjay Kumar Jha, Bihar's Water Resources Minister and a close confidante of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, tweeted.
He was responding to Gehlot's tweet that suggested states to bring back home their students from the coaching hub for medical and engineering examinations in Rajasthan.
Gehlot had tweeted:"As the UP government called back students living in #Kota# Rajasthan, it can also be done for students from other states. Students in Kota can be sent to their home states on the consent of the concerned state governments so that these young boys & girls do not panic or feel depressed."
Nitish Kumar had also said such a step will defeat the very purpose of the lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus and be "injustice" to the migrant labourers from Bihar stranded in other states.
The Uttar Pradesh government was reported to have sent over 200 buses to Kota to bring back nearly 7,500 students from the state stuck there.
News reports from Kota highlighted the difficulties faced by these students.
The Bihar minister repeated the chief minister's appeal to migrants to stay wherever they are to check the spread of the disease.
The Bihar government had earlier this week lodged a protest with the Centre over the Kota administration issuing passes to students of various coaching centres and their parents for returning to their home states.
In a letter to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Bihar Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar had on Monday said, "Such movement from Kota is not at all advisable in the present scenario. In Bihar, we are now medically examining the returning students as well as their guardians accompanying them, and instructions are being issued to quarantine them."
Jha also took a swipe at senior RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for attacking the Bihar government for not facilitating the return of state natives stuck elsewhere during the shutdown.
In a statement, Tejashwi refered to the Uttar Pradesh government facilitating the return of its students from Kota and the National Capital Region (NCR), and Gujarat bringing back its 1,800 peoople in luxury buses from Haridwar in Uttrakhand.
"Why these BJP ruled states are so capable, while in Bihar, where the JD(U), despite being in alliance with the BJP, is so 'asahaya' (helpless)," the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly had said.
Jha, a JD(U) national general secretary, said the Bihar government is sincerely following the lockdown protocol and those making "irresponsible" statements are violating the "spirit" of the shutdown.
"In this hour of crisis, instead of staying with the people of Bihar here, why is he putting up in Delhi and registering his presence through tweet messages and irresponsibe statements?" he asked.
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