Bengal's Covid politics prevails as Amit Shah, Mamata govt wage war over care for 'migrant workers'

Shah in a letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the TMC government of not cooperating with the Centre to allow the trains carrying migrant labourers to enter into the state.

Shah termed what he called non-cooperation of West Bengal as "injustice" for Bengali migrants stranded across the country.

"But we are not getting expected support from the West Bengal. The state government of West Bengal is not allowing the trains reaching to West Bengal. This is injustice with West Bengal migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them," Shah wrote in the letter quoted by media.

In an initial reaction on behalf of the TMC, the party's Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee tweeted in the morning, "A HM failing to discharge his duties during this crisis speaks after weeks of silence, only to mislead people with bundle of lies! Ironically he’s talking about the very ppl who’ve been literally left to fate by his own Govt. Mr @AmitShah, prove your fake allegations or apologise."

Later IBNS accessed some of the letters given by the West Bengal government to other states requesting for the travel of migrant workers on train.

IBNS learnt the government had sent letters to Rajasthan and Kerala on May 3 and to Karnataka and Telangana on 7th of the same month.

Amid the allegations and counter-charges by Shah and the TMC, the Left held both the central and state governments responsible for the plight of the migrant workers.

CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty, who has been leading the Left's attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and TMC over Covid-19 response, told IBNS, "The letter shows Amit Shah is not in quarantine (not away from administrative works). Probably, Amit Shah has sent the letter to prove that he was not in quarantine. Firstly, the unplanned and unprepared lockdown has left people to suffer including the martyrs on the railway tracks."

"Secondly, no one is ready to take the responsibility of these poor people. While the central government has arranged the trains but charged the ticket prices, the state government on the other hand is not coming clear about it’s plans to bring back the migrant workers. The state government is not even ready to give permission to the running of trains. It is a complete war against the poor people," the Jadavpur MLA added.

Not getting into the political faceoff, West Bengal's home secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay during his regular Covid bulletin said, "The central government used to send letters to the state often. I have heard from media that such a letter has been sent to the Chief Minister. But I won't comment anything since it is not the subject of my press conference."

However in the course of his press briefing, Bandyopadhyay claimed chief secretary Sinha on Friday informed the central government about the state government's full support in returning the people of West Bengal who are stranded abroad. 

West Bengal has been the political potboiler for more than a month now with the Opposition, mostly BJP, attacking the TMC government over its alleged fudging of Covid data.

The state administration and the Centre waged wars already after the Mamata Banerjee government initially put brakes on the Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs)'s visit to the Covid-hit districts in the state for assessment.

The BJP has also been vocal against the state's ruling dispensation over the TMC's alleged corruption in ration distribution to the poor.