The decision of former Madhya Pradesh minister Rajendra Shukla, a prominent BJP leader from Vindhya region and a sitting MLA of Rewa constituency, to ask help of film actor Sonu Sood for the return of 168 migrants from his region, who were stuck in Mumbai, has given a chance to the opposition Congress to troll the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state.
Shukla, considered close to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and a major contender for a ministerial berth in the two-month-old BJP government, tweeted a list of migrants from Rewa and Satna districts, who were stuck in Mumbai, and sought Sonu Sood’s help for their return.
Late on Tuesday night, Sood—who has made quite a wave in the country with his efforts to send back thousands of migrants home—replied to Shukla, saying: “None of your brothers will now be stuck. We will send them back to you by tomorrow. Please treat me to poha (considered special delicacy in Madhya Pradesh) when I visit Madhya Pradesh next.”
Sir, अब कोई भई कहीं नहीं फँसेगा। आपके प्रवासी भाई कल आपके पास भेज देंगे सर🙏 कभी MP आया तो पोहा ज़रूर खिलाना। ❣️ https://t.co/dBZpfDiaxc
— sonu sood (@SonuSood) June 2, 2020
The conversation between the two of them was lapped up by the Congress on Wednesday to attack the BJP government in the state over its “failure” to tackle the migrant issue. Also, the Congress leaders and other social media users trolled Rajendra Shukla, pointing out that it was surprising that the powerful ex-minister had to seek help of an individual when his party’s government was ruling the country as well as the state.
Some users said that this showed how helpless the ex-minister felt in the current BJP-led disposition in the state.
Congress MLA Kunal Chaudhary attacked the government saying that Shukla had belied the claims of Chief Minister Chouhan over return of migrants. “Seeking help from Sonu Sood exposes the helplessness of the government. The state government made tall claims and the chief minister said that the government made arrangements to ensure return of each migrant stuck in other states. Now the government should reply why a ruling party MLA was seeking help from actor Sonu Sood? This means that the government is not fulfilling its responsibility properly. Migrants are bearing own cost to return and government is failing to give them any facility,” the MLA tweeted.
Later, Shukla tweeted to say that the Congress workers who are “hiding in home for the fear of coronavirus” are unaware that lakhs of migrants of Vindhya region had returned home with the help of the state and central governments. Calling Congress workers ‘inert’, Shukla added that about 42,000 of the region had returned aboard Shramik special trains while 72,000 had returned on 1,500 buses during the past three weeks.
The state government has been making claims that over 5.80 lakh migrant workers had been brought back on trains and buses during the past one month.
Ex-minister’s reply rakes up further controversy
Meanwhile, a reply of Shukla to a comment of MP Berojgar Sena chief Akshya Hunka on the issue on Twitter raked up further controversy.
Hunka had tweeted saying that CM Chouhan should resign as the action of Shukla has shown that MLAs and ministers of his (Chouhan’s) own party did not have faith in him. How masses can have faith in the CM then, Hunka asked.
To this, Shukla replied that it was surprising that Hunka could not see the hundreds of Shramik trains and buses that brought lakhs of migrants of MP stuck in other states back home. “But if a social worker (reference to Sood) helps in bringing some back home, the Congress workers start vidhwa vilaap (mourning like a widow),” he said.
This elicited strong responses with Hunka, Congress MLA Kunal Choudhary and others accusing Shukla of insulting women by using terms like vidhwa vilaap.
