How Congress party is fighting Corona crisis   

The Covid-19 that is engulfing the entire globe has created a panick situation among the citizens and governments across the world and all countries are fiercely grappling to contain the spread of this virus. In India, this situation compelled the government to implement complete lockdown but without any preplanning, The worst suffers during this sudden lockdown are the migrant workers who are stranded in urban parts of different states like Punjab, Haryana, NCR-Delhi and Rajasthan. The arbitrary decision of the government to impose the lockdown, without reasonable notice period has led to the enmass displacement of workers largely hailing from states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Once again the nation witnessed the hardships of the menial workers, when thousands of migrant labourers assembled at the borders of the national capital to go to their villages. It was almost like a state-sponsored exodus. The plight of the labourers recorded in short videos and circulated in the social media were heart wrenching as the workers along with family members walked miles on national highways to reach their destination.

While the State Governments having responsibilities to provide transportation and required facilitation were busy on passing blame on each other, the last minute, lethargic efforts by the State administration of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh miserably failed to solve the critical problems of the migrant workers who were in dire need of food and transportation. At this juncture, the central government took slew of measures by overseeing the lockdown operations and pulling up the state governments to implement the measures to contain the coronavirus.

But nothing substantially changed on the ground and several migrant workers remain stranded in the government camps in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. They are compelled to isolate in the pathetic conditions. The conditions at the relief camps are such which may make the people there more vulnerable to the deadly infection.

Meanwhile responding to this pandemic situation, the political parties in India did their best to assist the migrant laborers and especially support the health workers, who were discharging their duties by risking their lives. As the main opposition party, the Congress has quickly responded to this emergency and streamlined the communication network across India and formed task force committees to assist the citizens.

The Congress party has rich experience in handling humanitarian crisis with a broader approach and it has a track record of mitigating the catastrophes pragmatically. The Congress ruled states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Maharastra, the larger chunk of migrant workers hail from Uttar Pradesh and much of the onus of assisting them fell on the party given its national outlook. Responding promptly to the crisis, the AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who is also in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, swung into action without much delay and coordinated with the chief ministers and other stake holders who helped them to work out a perfect mechanism to facilitate the migrant workers.

In a letter to religious mutts and deras, Priyanka Gandhi sought their voluntary assistance in providing essential services to the migrants and her humanitarian appeal has received an overwhelming response from the voluntary organisations. The relief camps and corona isolation centers created by the state governments in states like Punjab and Rajasthan, to deal with “human crisis” as well as “health crisis” were well equipped with necessary infrastructure.

At the same time the party high command roped in the party’s frontal organisations like Youth Congress and NSUI and they were given the challenging task to assist the migrant workers by providing food and medical kits.

The Congress cadre involved in the humanitarian work at the ground, appealed to the stranded migrant workers to remain calm and boasted their morale. They were discouraged to travel back to their villages and a homely atmosphere was created at relief camps by making elaborate arrangements.

While taking the stock of the situation at the ground level in different states, the task force committee of All India Congress Committee, comprised of former union ministers and seasoned policy makers prepared a draft report and their research findings do merit the attention of the central government. In a letter to the Prime Minister, the interim Congress President highlighted the extremely vulnerable conditions of the toiling masses in the unorganized sector and she sought the intervention of the government to protect the livelihood of the workers. While extending the unwavering support of the party in this emergency situation, the Congress president urged the government to prepare a common minimum relief programme for the victims of the covid-19.

In this hour of crisis, the foremost priority of the government is to heal the wounds of the migrant workers, who are the worst affected due the catastrophic lockdown. Putting aside the political differences, the government of the day should bring together all political parties and social groups in order to resolve the current outbreak of COVID-19.

The prime focus of the state should be to mollify the fears of uncertainty, protect the livelihood of migrant workers and undo the irreparable damage caused due to the mass exodus.

The writer is a Fellow at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute Of Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram