Never referred trains with migrants as Corona Express: Mamata Banerjee counters Amit Shah's attack

Addressing a press conference at state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee said, "I never said corona express. I said the public is saying. You can see my original statement."

During a virtual rally addressing the people of Bengal, Amit Shah on Tuesday said: "Mamata Didi insulted the migrant workers by terming Shramik Special Trains as Corona Express."

He also accused the TMC government of running the least number of special trains to bring back stranded labourers.

Taking a dig at the Centre for not making proper arrangements for migrant workers for the last three months, Banerjee said: "Before announcing the lockdown, why didn't the central government send the migrants home instead of doing it now by squeezing many in one train amid high risk of coronavirus spread? These migrants would have then not spent days outside in deplorable conditions."

Banerjee said her reason for initially stopping the migrant trains was "misunderstood."

"The train services have been kept closed for one reason- so that people are not packed closely into a small space as the corona infection may spread," she said.

The Centre and the Mamata Banerjee government have been at loggerheads ever since the arrangement of Shramik Special Trains by the former.

Banerjee like many opposition parties had slammed the Centre for initially showing no interest in helping lakhs of stranded workers reach home during the lockdown and started the migrant trains only after pressure from states.

The West Bengal CM had earlier too raised her voice for not maintaining social distancing in these trains.

She had also requested to not send all migrants back to state together.