Kolkata/New Delhi: The battle between West Bengal and the central government over the state’s alleged mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis went up a notch Saturday as Union Home Minister Amit Shah waded in with a sharp rebuke to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
In a letter to Mamata, Shah accused the state government of not supporting the central government in arranging the return of stranded Bengali migrants across India.
Shah said the Modi government had facilitated the journey back home for more than 2 lakh migrant labourers, but West Bengal was not allowing the special ‘Shramik Express’ trains to reach the state.
He wrote that this was an “injustice” for the stranded migrants.
Shah’s letter came a day after the Mamata Banerjee government approved the arrival of eight trains from around India with over 30,000 stranded Bengali migrants, state officials said
The Bengal government gave its go-ahead a week after the central government allowed the railways to arrange special trains amid the lockdown to carry migrant workers home.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and West Bengal have exchanged more than a dozen letters over the state’s “improper handling of the crisis”, but this is the first one written by Shah.
The letter, which is said to have been written after a request from senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, has triggered a full-blown political war. The Trinamool Congress has accused the central government of playing “petty politics”, saying Shah should prove the allegations or apologise, while the BJP claims the Mamata government has “messed up all aspects of the crisis”.
Also Read: Mamata’s Covid politics is benefiting Modi and West Bengal’s election isn’t that far
‘Not getting support’
In his letter, Shah has said that the central government is “not getting expected support from West Bengal”.
“The state government is not allowing trains to reach (West Bengal). This is injustice for West Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” he wrote.
The letter comes on the back of multiple MHA missives to the state about its handling of the Covid-19 situation, including the lockdown, low testing rates, and mismatch in fatality figures.
The issues raised include the fact that Bengal has reported the highest mortality rate, lowest testing figures. The letters also dealt with other issues such as Bengal’s decision to stop the movement of trucks across the international border at Petrapole.
According to a source in the MHA, the home minister felt the need to write a letter because despite a series of communications sent to Bengal, proper coordination could not be established between the central and state governments.
“Several communications, both formal and informal, were sent to the West Bengal government by officials concerned, on many issues, but the state did not provide adequate support to the Centre,” the source said. “This is why the home minister felt the need to write the letter himself.”
Also Read: How Bengal’s Covid-19 toll went up nearly 4 times in 24 hours after Modi govt probe
‘Petty politics’
Talking about the letter, a senior Trinamool leader said the “central government has now come down to petty politics”.
“They are not making any healthy criticism over policy issues, but this is only political as they have targeted Bengal,” the leader added.
In an earlier interview with The Print, state minister Partha Chatterjee said, “BJP and the central ministers are not contributing to Bengal, they are only working to satisfy vested political interest. They are trying to interrupt the normal functioning of the government in the middle of the pandemic.”
Reacting to Shah’s letter, Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee, the chief minister’s nephew, said the home minister should prove his “fake allegations” or “apologise”.
A HM failing to discharge his duties during this crisis speaks after weeks of silence, only to mislead people with bundle of lies! Ironically he’s talking about the very ppl who’ve been literally left to fate by his own Govt. Mr @AmitShah, prove your fake allegations or apologise https://t.co/HeWYWFafZ5
— Abhishek Banerjee (@abhishekaitc) May 9, 2020
According to sources in the BJP, the trigger for the letter was a call from Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a former minister of state for railways, to Shah. Chowdhury confirmed to ThePrint that he had called up Shah.
“I spoke to the home minister yesterday (Friday) and requested him to arrange a train as I was being flooded with requests from Bengal’s migrant families and from people stuck outside the state,” he said.
“I have been coordinating with states too. The Karnataka government told me that they have at least 30,000 migrants stranded in the state and waiting for Bengal’s government nod to allow trains inside. The home minister also told me that Mamata Banerjee is refusing to help…
“If the Bengal chief minister sees the letter as a political allegation, then she may come out and call the home minister’s version as false.”
Chowdhury also wrote to the prime minister, the railways minister and finally called the home minister to take up the plight of Bengal’s migrant labourers stranded in other states.
Asked about Mamata finally allowing eight trains to bring in migrants, he said, “These eight trains should have reached Bengal much earlier as the railways arranged these long back. But these trains were also waiting for Bengal government’s approval.”
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said the state government “has messed up in all aspects of the crisis”.
“We have been writing to all ministries and requesting them to address the issues. The central government is also tired sending letters after letter. But there is no way out,” he added. “Bengal has mismanaged the crisis and it needs central intervention for almost everything.”
Eight trains ready
According to a list sent to the Bengal government, a total of eight special trains have been arranged to ferry stranded migrant labourers back to the state from Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana between 9 and 11 May.
Noted political analyst Biswanath Chakraborty said the political exchange between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP would work to the migrants’ advantage.
“Nobody was really thinking about them for so long. With the political tension building up, now both the Centre and state will be in a race to earn brownie points and it will help the migrants,” he added.
Also Read: Why an angry Mamata Banerjee was forced to do a U-turn on Bengal’s Covid strategy
Name a state in INDIA where majority of the citizens there is NORTH KOREA type policies and for minority of citizens pakistan type policies
Physician heal thyself
The kind of panic situation in Ahmedabad needs to be addressed by the BJP leadership
Instead lecturing Mamataji is not helping the fight against corona
BJP will end up destroying the future of the youngsters in this country by fomenting cultural religious and social divide