Reacting to the tragic incident in Maharashtra where 16 migrant labourers were run over by a train when the exhausted lot fell asleep on a railway track, the Congress said the migrants are being subjected to horror by the Central government.
Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill said the party has become an event management company.
"Had elections been round the corner, migrant labourers would have been treated as 'guest of honour' but since no elections are on, they are being subjected to horror by the Central government," he said.
The party said not the train but indifference, bad planning and the insensitive approach of the Central government are the "three murder weapons" that claimed the lives of 16 labourers, in addition to the 42 labourers who died while walking back home.
Shergill said Friday's incident could have been avoided had the BJP planned the reverse migration of labourers in advance, and provided monetary assistance instead of forcing them to walk. He said the government could have focused on the crisis rather than event management.
"The BJP's hands are stained with blood of dead migrant labourers. The Central government must be held accountable and answerable for the loss of lives due to blatantly ill-planned lockdown imposed on 1.3 billion people," added Shergill.
At least 16 migrant labourers died after a goods train ran over a group of workers asleep on the railway tracks early on Friday in Maharashtra's Aurangabad. The home-bound exhausted lot were run over between Jalna and Aurangabad, officials said.
The migrant workers were trying to return to their rural homes in Madhya Pradesh.
( With inputs from IANS )