Gujarat violence: North Indians are not foreigners, says Mayawati

The BSP supremo urges Gujarat govt to take strong action

Migrant workers wait in queue to board a train at a railway station in Ahmedabad | Janak Patel Migrant workers wait in queue to board a train at a railway station in Ahmedabad | Janak Patel

Even as thousands of Hindi-speaking migrant workers have left Gujarat in the wake of violence following an alleged rape incident, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati on Tuesday demanded strong action to address the issue.

“There is no point in accusing each other. North Indians are not foreigners; they are citizens of our country. I appeal to the Gujarat government to take stringent action against the accused instead of doing politics on this matter,” she told news agency ANI.

“It is sad that people who voted and made Modi ji win from Varanasi are being targeted in Gujarat,” Mayawati said, while urging the Vijay Rupani-led government to take strict action against those responsible for such attacks.

Over 20,000 Hindi-speaking migrants have fled the state in the last one week after a spate of attacks on them following the September 28 rape of a 14-month-old girl in a village near Himmatnagar town in Sabarkantha district. The accused, a Bihar native working in a local ceramic factory, was arrested the same day. 

However, the issue snowballed into a political slugfest involving the BJP, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Chief Minister Rupani asked whether Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will take action against his party's "own members who incited violence against the migrants in Gujarat".

The BJP has been blaming Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and his outfit Gujarat Kshatriya-Thakor Sena for the outbreak of violence.

Gujarat Home Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said a total of 533 people were arrested and 61 cases registered so far.

Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said top officials from the state were in constant touch with their counterparts in Gujarat and appealed to Biharis living in the western state to stay firmly where they were.