Sonia Gandhi stunned the Narendra Modi government on Monday and BJP parliamentarian Subramanian Swamy stung it, even taking a swipe at the PM CARES Fund.
Sonia announced that the Congress would pay the bus and train fares for the returning migrant workers, taking the BJP by surprise. Swamy called his party’s government “moronic” for charging “steep rail fares” from poor, out-of-job labourers.
“How moronic of the Government of India to charge steep rail fares from the half-starved migrant labourers!” Swamy, who has 8.9 million followers on Twitter, posted.
He went on to ask that when Indians stranded abroad could be flown in free by Air India, why should poor labourers be charged train and bus fares?
Swamy targeted the opaque PM CARES Fund where crores of rupees have purportedly been deposited to help fight the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Indians stranded abroad were brought back free by Air India. If Railways refuse to budge then why not make PM CARES pay instead?” Swamy tweeted.
He then appeared to virtually play Prime Minister, tweeting he had talked to the railway minister’s office and that the ministry would soon clarify that the migrants would travel free.
“Talked Piyush Goyal office. Govt will pay 85% and State Govt 15%. Migrant labour will go free. Ministry will clarify with an official statement,” he tweeted.
Complimented by a Twitter user for daring to question the government, he explained he was not a “job seeker”.
The government and railway minister chose silence, at least officially.
However, a section of the media tried to counter the attacks by the Congress and Swamy by quoting “sources in the government” who suggested the fares were being charged from the state governments rather than the travelling labourers.
A little later, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and party social media head Amit Malviya came out to make the same claim and tried to shift the blme on Congress-ruled states.
They claimed the railways were bearing 85 per cent of the travel costs and the states 15 per cent, and asked the Congress governments to pay their share like the BJP-ruled states. They accused the Congress of “politicising” the issue.
“Railways has subsidised 85% and State Govts pay rest 15% (like Madhya Pradesh is). Migrants DON’T pay! Why doesn’t Sonia ask Cong State Govts to pay?” Malviya tweeted.
Railway “sources” who wouldn’t be quoted backed this version, saying the tickets were being handed directly to the state governments. They said the states had the onus of paying 15 per cent of the cost — either by collecting it from the migrants or from their own coffers — since the trains were being run on their request.
“The Centre has always been against the movement of migrants since it presents a real danger of the virus spreading,” a source claimed.
Asked why the Centre couldn’t bear the remaining 15 per cent of the cost when it had done so for well-off Indians stuck abroad, the sources said this was to discourage crowding and large-scale movement of migrants, which could cause a spike in infections.
“The fare is being charged to discourage the movement of large numbers of migrants,” a source said. It remained unexplained how the fare would deter the migrants if their states were paying it.