‘Dramabaazi’: Nirmala on Rahul Meeting Migrant Workers in Delhi

“Instead of wasting the time of migrants, walk along with them and carry their suitcase,” she said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday, 16 May met a group of migrant labourers walking back to their village in Uttar Pradesh near the Sukhdev Vihar flyover near the Delhi-Faridabad Border.

(Photo: Twitter/Congress)

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday, 17 May, termed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s move to meet migrants in the national capital as “Dramabaazi”. While addressing her fifth press conference to share details of the economic stimulus package in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, Sitharaman said that the Congress party should be “more responsible.”

“Instead of wasting the time of migrants and sitting with them, walk along with them and carry their suitcase. ​In Congress-ruled states, request for more trains so that more migrants can reach home. They call us dramebaaz. What about yesterday? That is what is called dramabaazi. Let us deal more responsibly with this issue.”

Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister

Rahul Gandhi on Saturday met a group of migrant labourers walking back to their village in Uttar Pradesh near the Sukhdev Vihar flyover near the Delhi-Faridabad Border and interacted with them for an hour.

The party on Saturday released photographs and video clips of Rahul Gandhi talking with the group, including women and children, who were walking from their worksite near Ambala in Haryana to their village near Jhansi, a distance of over 700 km.

The Congress leader sat on the footpath on the Mathura Road with the group and heard them out, said a party leader.

(Photo: Twitter/Congress)

(Photo: Twitter/Congress)

The Congress later alleged that the police had taken the labourers in preventive custody following directions from the “top to do so.”

Later, the opposition party arranged transport to sent the group to their destination.

“Adhering strictly to the law, at the request of Rahul Gandhi, volunteers of Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee have stepped up help the migrants returning to their native villages,” said a close aide of the Congress leader.

Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday visited the Delhi Congress office to take stock of help provided by the party workers to migrant workers and also interacted with volunteers.