Reports that Smriti Irani helped migrant workers in Wayanad are false, contends Kerala CM
Two days ago, some media reports stated that Union Minister Smriti Irani intervened to help a few migrant workers belonging to her parliamentary constituency of Amethi, who were stranded in Wayanad. Though neither Smriti Irani nor her office made any such claim on their social media handles or statements, reports claimed that the Minister came to know that the workers were starving and assigned few Seva Bharathi volunteers through Union Minister V Muraleedharan's office to get them food.
But several labourers from the camp at Karuvarakund in Malappuram district denied the reports, stating that they had been given food by their sponsor and had not received any help from the volunteers.
On Wednesday Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also clarified that there is no truth to those reports. He alleged that the story was published and propagated by an RSS mouthpiece.
"These 41 labourers were living in quarters owned by a person called Afsal in Karuvarakund of Malappuram district, which comes under Wayanad constituency. After the news came out we did an inquiry and realised that they were given food and shelter by their sponsor. Apart from that they were provided with grocery kits as they refused to eat food from the community kitchen, stating that they wanted to cook themselves.”
Denying reports of a food scarcity, the CM said, “Along with all other weaker sections, we will also take care of our guest workers. So people should refrain from wrong propaganda."
In his press briefing, the Chief Minister also said that some people are spreading rumors that the government is more interested in migrant workers and giving them unnecessary extra care.
"People know that they are a community that faces a lot of troubles. We provide them good food, decent shelter and necessary medicines. 'Atithi Devo Bhava' (the guest is god) shouldn't just remain on paper.”
He however, noted that despite the state’s efforts, migrant workers are not happy and yearn to return home. “So we had requested the Prime Minister earlier to allot special trains to take them home after lockdown. We will again put forward the request," the CM said.