Tweets by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aadityanath have not gone down well with the people of Maharashtra. Even Mumbai residents, who are originally from Uttar Pradesh, felt that his statement could cause them problems in the state.
Adityanath, in his tweet on Sunday, blamed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra for not helping labourers.
“The Shiv Sena-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government has cheated the labourers who worked hard and contributed in the development of Maharashtra. During the lockdown, the Maharashtra government did not help them. The government forced them to go back to their native places. Humanity will never forget Uddhav Thackeray for this inhuman behaviour,” Adityanath tweeted. This angered the Maharashtrian public in general and the politicians of the ruling parties in particular.
In the past, migrant labourers have faced the anger of Marathi pride politics. Such instances have dropped in the last few years. Fearing its return, Adityanath's tweet about not sending back labourers in Maharashtra received a lot of flak on social media.
“In the future, labourers from any other states should not be allowed in Maharashtra. Permit system should be introduced,” read a Facebook post by a Shiv Sena supporter Chintamani Karkhanis, which garnered a lot of support.
Sensing this sentiment of Marathi manoos, Revenue Minister and Congress state president Balasaheb Thorat tried to pacify the people. “Though we cannot stop labourers from any state, we will think about keeping their information with us. We will discuss this issue with the state labour department,” he clarified.
Damaging for us
“Yogi’s statement will ultimately hurt Mumbaikars and migrant labourers who are originally from UP. This statement has hurt the feelings of Maharashtrians and may increase their opposition towards those from UP,” said social worker and trustee of Jhunjhunwala College Dr Rajendra Singh, who is also from UP.
Yogi should first create job in the state and then speak about not allowing labourers to leave Maharashtra, he added. “People have migrated here because successive governments in UP have failed to develop the state,” he added.
Not only the Maharashtra government but social organisations took care of labourers, he said. “Labourers are not going to their native only from Maharashtra. They are going back from Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, among other states, too. A feeling of insecurity is behind this,” Dr Singh stated.
While attacking Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Adityanath also said that, had Maharashtra taken care of the labourers from UP, they would not have been forced to leave Maharashtra. Thorat also gave a befitting reply to the allegation. He mentioned a Marathi proverb that an aunt emerged as a savior after the mother had thrown away the baby. “Adityanath's allegations are unfortunate and baseless as the government of Maharashtra as well as various NGOs and social organisations took care of the migrants for two months during the lockdown. Migrants were given food, medicine, and shelter in the state, he said. Thorat expressed that migrants would again come back to their aunt's home and both will take care of each other. Migrants were missing their family, and that is why they wanted to go home. However, Adityanath won’t understand this,” taunted Thorat.
