Explained: Did Maharashtra govt ask migrants to leave during Covid lockdown?

What did Prime Minister Narendra Modi say in Parliament?

PM Modi accused the non-BJP state governments of instigating migrants to leave cities and escalating the spread of infection. He claimed Congress leaders in Mumbai had distributed free tickets to encourage migrants to leave the city.

“The Congress Party has crossed all limits in this time of Covid-19… During the first wave, when the country was following lockdowns, when the World Health Organization was advising people across the world, all health experts were suggesting that people should stay where they are. This message was being given across the world because if a person infected with coronavirus travels, he would carry the infection with him. At that time, Congress leaders stood at stations in Mumbai and distributed free train tickets and encouraged migrants to leave Mumbai so that the burden on Maharashtra can be reduced. You are from Uttar Pradesh, you are from Bihar, go and spread Corona there. You committed this big sin… You pushed our labourer brothers and sisters in great difficulties,” he said.

Did the Maharashtra government ask migrants to leave?

There was no explicit directive asking migrants to leave the city.

After train services were stopped on March 23, 2020, lakhs of migrants were left stranded in the state. The Maharashtra government had written several letters to the central government in April asking for train services to resume with advance planning from Mumbai and Pune for those stranded.

By April, the government had set up shelter homes across parts of Maharashtra, in which close to 7 lakh migrants were staying.

The state witnessed its first major migrant protest on April 14, 2020, when hundreds flooded the streets outside Bandra West Station, furious over the extension of the national lockdown, and demanding access to ration and the right to go home. The Mumbai Police had resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.

Migrant workers with their families wait in a queue outside Bandra to board special Shramik train to Bihar in May 2020. (Express Photo: Nirmal Harindran)

Subsequent to the incident, the Maharashtra government had made several requests to migrants to stay put.

On April 19, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in his webcast to the state, had switched to Hindi from Marathi and addressed migrant workers, stating that they should tell their families they were safe where they are.

“I give you my word that the Maharashtra government will take you to your homes…when the crisis ends. I believe that when you go back to your homes, you should go back happily and not out of fear,” he said.

Again on April 26, Thackeray made a request to migrants not to crowd railway stations. “The talks are on and we will arrive at a solution soon. But train services will not start. There should be no crowding. If there are crowds, restrictions will have to be reimposed. Whenever possible, we will send everyone to your homes,” he said.

When did the first migrant train leave Maharashtra?

The first migrant train to leave the state was on May 1, 2020 from Nashik, in which 332 stranded workers were sent to Madhya Pradesh. The passengers had to purchase a ticket priced at Rs 215 to board the train. A total of 817 such trains ran from Maharashtra over the subsequent months.

Did the Congress party distribute tickets to migrants?

Many migrants who could raise funds for their travel were helped by various organisations. However, there was no large-scale funding of migrants’ tickets by the Congress party in the state.

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