Thousands of migrant workers have walked hundreds of KMs from big cities along with their children to villages after PM announced the lockdown on March 24.
Poll strategist and former Janata Dal (United) leader Prashant Kishor on Monday took on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar while posting on his social media account a video of migrant workers locked inside a room, crying and begging to be released.
“One more frightening picture of official efforts to protect people from the coronavirus epidemic – poor migrants who came from various parts of the country after suffering many hardships are subjected to this heart-wrenching arrangement for social distancing and quarantine by Nitish Kumar,” said Prashant Kishor tweeted.
He also added a hashtag #NitishMustQuit along with the 2:17-minute video clip.
.#Corona संक्रमण से लोगों को बचाने के सरकारी प्रयासों की एक और भयावह तस्वीर –
भारी तकलीफ़ और मुसीबतों को झेलकर देश के कई हिस्सों से बिहार पहुँचने वाले गरीब लोगों के लिए #NitishKumar की #SocialDistancing और #Quarantine की ये व्यवस्था दिल दहलाने वाली है।#NitishMustQuit pic.twitter.com/ot3hygGRk7
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) March 29, 2020
The video is said to be from Guthani of Siwan district, which shares its border with Uttar Pradesh.
“Since morning they have been telling us to let us go as the bus is coming but there is no bus yet….they’re are not letting us go …we too have our children in our villages”, says a man with his face covered among the crowd in the video.
One of the men inside the cell said he wants to go to his home in Siwan, around 130 km from state capital of Patna, to meet his sick son.
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“I have come from Ahmedabad. They have been telling us we will let you go since the morning and that a bus is coming. But there has been no bus. They are not letting us go,” the man, weeping with his mouth covered with a handkerchief, is heard saying in the video.
Mr. Kishor was expelled from the JD(U) after he had fallen out with Mr. Kumar on issues such as the CAA, NRC and the NPR.
He has been regularly tweeting videos and photographs of migrants and the problems they have been facing during the lockdown announced till April 14.
The Centre on Sunday ordered the “effective sealing” of borders to stop the exodus and announced measures to help those in need of shelter and food.
The number of people infected with the coronavirus in the country has risen to 1071, including 942 active cases, 99 recovered patients and 29 who died.
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