Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee denied Wednesday of ever having called ‘Shramik Special’ trains as ‘Corona Express’. The allegations were raised by Home Minister Amit Shah as he spoke at a virtual rally in West Bengal. The ‘Shramik Special’ trains are being used to ferry migrant workers to their native places.
Banerjee while denying Shah’s allegations vehemently insisted that it was the people who gave that name to crammed-to-capacity trains. Her comments came a day after Shah, addressing a virtual rally for West Bengal, accused Banerjee of ‘insulting’ migrant workers. He said that Banerjee did not want the migrant workers to return to their native places in West Bengal. He also said that the workers will ensure the ‘exit’ of Banerjee’s government in the 2021 Assembly polls.
“More than 11 lakh migrants have returned to Bengal. I never called the migrant special trains ‘Corona Express’. It was the common people who gave them that name,” she told reporters. “These are all baseless allegations. The home minister and his party should not think about election gimmicks now. Rather we should all stand together in the fight against coronavirus,” Banerjee added.
Agencies