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New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said that the Center does not discriminate between states and that the recently launched repatriation exercise, the Vande Bharat Mission, is intended for all Indians stranded due to blockage of the coronavirus.
In response to West Bengal Minister of Education’s accusation of discrimination, Partha Chatterjee, MEA spokesman Anurag Srivastav tweeted on Thursday night: “The MEA does not discriminate between states. The Vande Bharat Mission of the Government of India is for all stranded Indians, including those in West Bengal. 3,700 of them have been registered for repatriation from different parts of the world. “
MEA does not discriminate between states. GOI’s Vande Bharat mission is for all stranded Indians, including those in West Bengal. More than 3,700 of them have been registered for repatriation from different parts of the world. (1/2)@MoCA_GoI @HomeSecretaryWB https://t.co/CEzU0rCAnM
– Anurag Srivastava (@MEAIndia) May 14, 2020
The MEA spokesman’s tweet was in response to questions asked by Partha Chatterjee about India’s largest repatriation exercise, alleging discrimination by the Center against the people of West Bengal.
“Is the MEA asking us to believe that there are enough people to come from Georgia to Gujarat but none want to come to Kolkata? Also, there are enough people to return to Bihar from Kyrgyzstan, but not enough to return to Bengal. This injustice Chatterjee had said in a tweet.
The MEA spokesperson tagged Chatterjee’s tweet and said: “It will gladly facilitate flights to Kolkata if the state government confirms arrangements to receive and quarantine. It will also help West Bengal residents return across borders. with their neighbors. We look forward to receiving an early response. “
The West Bengal Minister of Education later responded to the MEA spokesman’s tweet and said: “Bengal will welcome its people from anywhere in the world with open arms and since the Honorable Prime Minister (Modi) is talking about” voice for the local, “why? Can’t we allow our poor migrant brothers and sisters to come home on these special flights instead of walking barefoot for thousands of miles?
The government and the West Bengal Center have disagreed on various issues related to governance and other policy issues. India began on 7 May the gradual repatriation of its stranded citizens abroad, due to various closure restrictions, under the Vande Bharat Mission.
It may also be recalled that a war of words had broken out between the center and the state government after Interior Minister Amit Shah alleged that the Mamata Banerjee regime was not cooperating on the issue of migrant workers. In his letter to Mamata, the Union Minister of the Interior stated that the West Bengal government does not allow trains carrying migrant workers to reach the state, which can create further difficulties for workers.
In his letter, Shah said that not allowing trains to reach West Bengal is “injustice” to the state’s migrant workers. Referring to the ‘Special Shramik’ trains run by the central government to facilitate the transportation of migrant workers from different parts of the country to various destinations, Shah said the Center has made it easier for more than two Lakh migrant workers to reach their homes.
The Interior Minister said that migrant workers from West Bengal are also eager to reach their homes and that the central government is also facilitating train services.
“But we are not receiving the expected support from West Bengal. The West Bengal state government does not allow trains to reach West Bengal. This is an injustice to West Bengal migrant workers. This will create more difficulties for them,” Shah wrote. in his letter to the head of the Trinamool Congress.
Before that, the Center and the Bengal government clashed over an IMCT (Central Inter-Ministerial Team), which recently visited the state to review its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
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