Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made an impassioned appeal to the migrant workers who are trying to go back to their home states to stay back in the national capital, quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to say that the mantra of the coronavirus lockdown is 'stay wherever you are'.
“With folded hands, I appeal to all those people who are trying to go back home to stay back. When the Prime Minister announced the lockdown to curb Coronavirus, he said one line, 'stay wherever you are'. He has repeated this line many times. I think this is the mantra of the lockdown,” Kejriwal said.
“If we do not follow the lockdown, we will not be successful [in controlling the virus outbreak] and we will fail as a nation,” he said.
इस समय अपने घर पर रहना ही देशभक्ति है। अभी 18 दिन बचे है लॉकडाउन के। अगर आपको अच्छा लगे तो आप वो कर सकते हो जो मेरे परिवार ने शुरू किया है। गीता के 18 अध्याय है, रोज एक पढ़िए। सिर्फ आधा घंटा लगता है। pic.twitter.com/To0ttB7ERh
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 29, 2020
He assured the migrant workers that the Delhi government will take care of their essential needs such as food and shelter. “Delhi government has emptied stadiums and schools to shelter migrant workers. We are giving food to four lakh people daily,” he said.
Striking an emotional chord, he said he was like a son and brother to all the people affected by the lockdown, and even asked, “Don't you love your life?”
Referring to visuals of huge crowds of people gathered at the Delhi border in an attempt to go back to their home states, he said, “When you are standing in a crowd, even if a single person amongst you is infected, you will also get infected. Think about your own life and that of your family. Don't you love your life? Entering such a huge crowd is suicidal.”
He said that the migrant workers could end up taking the Coronavirus infection to their villages, which have so far been free from the virus.
In a statesman-like manner, Kejriwal, who has been addressing briefings daily on coronavirus, said, “We are all together in this fight as a team, the Centre and the state governments. And we are learning from each other. We are emulating the good practices being followed by each other.”
In an apparent reference to criticism from the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar on migrant workers leaving Delhi, he asked Aam Aadmi Party workers to desist from getting into arguments with members of rival parties on any allegations levelled against his government. “This is not a time to do politics. All parties need to work together, be it BJP, Congress or Aam Aadmi Party. Yesterday, rival parties made wrong allegations against us. I saw on social media that AAP workers were getting into arguments with them. We do not have to get into arguments. You have to help the people. Only one thing is important right now, to save the country,” he said.
He appealed to industrialists, contractors and businessmen to come to the aid of their workers at this juncture and provide them with meals and a place to live. He asked landlords to assure their tenants that they will postpone rents for the next two to three months, and said if there is anyone who is unable to pay his or her rent, his government will pitch in. “This is a time of being humane, of coming to the help of each other,” he said.
Kejriwal added a personal touch to his briefing today by suggesting to the people that they could consider reciting the 18 chapters of the Bhagwad Gita, a chapter a day, for the remaining 18 days of the lockdown. “Since yesterday, at my home, my wife has begun recitation of the Gita. Our entire family sits down together, and we read one chapter a day,” he said.
