'You didn't count so no one died?': Rahul Gandhi attacks Centre on migrant deaths, says govt is 'unaffected'

New Delhi: Turning to verse to attack the Centre for its statement that it does not have data on the number of migrants who died during the lockdown, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the world saw the deaths but only the Modi government was unaware. Union Labour Minister Santosh Gangwar told the Lok Sabha on Monday that the government does not have data on the number of migrants who died or were injured while returning to their native places due to the lockdown. In a four-line verse in Hindi, Gandhi responded by saying the Modi government does not know how many migrant labourers died and how many jobs were lost during the lockdown. “Did the death not take place if you did not count? But yes, it is sad the government was unaffected by it, The world saw their deaths, only the Modi government was not aware of it,” he said on Twitter.

मोदी सरकार नहीं जानती कि लॉकडाउन में कितने प्रवासी मज़दूर मरे और कितनी नौकरियाँ गयीं।

तुमने ना गिना तो क्या मौत ना हुई?
हाँ मगर दुख है सरकार पे असर ना हुई,
उनका मरना देखा ज़माने ने,
एक मोदी सरकार है जिसे ख़बर ना हुई।

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 15, 2020

The former Congress chief is accompanying his mother Sonia Gandhi during her trip to the US for a routine medical check-up. The government’s response in Lok Sabha was to a question by BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab. A nationwide lockdown was imposed on 25 March to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. There was an exodus of a large number of migrant workers to their native places from different parts of the country during the lockdown. The lockdown restrictions were eased from late May.