Charging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had — in his speech made in Lok Sabha on Monday — “insulted” the 12 crore people of Maharashtra through his “false” accusation that the State Government had contributed to the spread of Covid-19 infection, the State Congress on Tuesday demanded an apology from Modi.
Talking to media persons here, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said that his party would stage a demonstration in front of the BJP offices in the state to demand an apology for making “false” allegations against the State Government. “Congress party workers will hold demonstrations in front of BJP offices tomorrow. If the BJP leaders in the state have any respect for Maharashtra, they should also protest against the Prime Minister's statement. Otherwise they will be recorded as traitors in the history of the state,” Patole said.
Accusing Modi of being the “main spreader” of the Covid-19, Patole said: “By attending events like Namaste Trump during the early days of the pandemic, Narendra Modi is the real spreader of the Covid19 virus in the country. Those migrant workers who are being referred to as Covid spreaders by Modiji are the real Covid warriors”.
“When the workers were suffering, rather than easing their woes, the Prime Minister was appealing to the public to light lamps and beat plates. He himself was busy feeding the peacocks inside his residence. He had left the common man to fend for himself during the pandemic and was more concerned about his industrialist friends who were being distributed public own assets of the country,” the State Congress chief said.
Patole said that since the people of Maharashtra unseated the BJP from power, all BJP leaders from the state to Delhi were showing their hatred against the state by hatching false conspiracies to discredit the state. “But, the Prime Minister has crossed all the boundaries. He has not only displayed his hatred for the state but he has also insulted Maharashtra. He has forgotten that he is the Prime Minister for the whole country. By making such statements, he has done away with the dignity of the PM's post and has reduced the post to that of a BJP campaigner”.
Recalling the initiatives taken by the MVA government to deal with the Covid-19 situation in general and migrant workers in particular, Patole said that the Uddhav Thackeray dispensation helped everyone in distress at that time. “Arrangements were made to provide meals and tickets to the workers and laborers to ensure that they were escorted safely and with full dignity to their homes”.