Narendra Modi, Vijay Rupani should quit if migrant workers in Gujarat are not protected, says Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani for the attacks and violence on migrant workers in Gujarat and said they should quit if they are unable to carry out their responsibilities.The Opposition also trained its guns on Modi, saying how he would go to Varanasi and face the people of the state who made him the prime minister, after attacks on migrant labour from Uttar Pradesh in Gujarat, a state of which he was the chief minister for long.Congress President Rahul Gandhi held the targeting of migrant workers in Gujarat as "completely wrong".[caption id="attachment_5220671" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Representational image. PTI[/caption]Taking to Twitter, he claimed the root cause of violence in Gujarat was the closure of factories and unemployment in the state."There is nothing more frightening than poverty. The root cause of the violence in Gujarat is the closed down factories and unemployment there. Both the system and that economy are reeling. Making migrant labour their target is completely wrong. I stand totally against it," Rahul tweeted.Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged the "politics of exclusion" continues in Gujarat, while the concerned BJP chief ministers have done nothing to protect the interests of their constituents."I directly hold Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for this kind of violence and incidents on migrant labour and the kind of pressure being put on them.  If they do not take responsibility for this and provide the 'Ram Rajya' that they claimed, then they should quit their posts as they have no moral right to continue and hold such important positions and undertake responsibilities," she told reporters.Chaturvedi alleged this is the BJP's mindset, wherever it gets to power."I want to ask Modi ji as to what he is doing on this. You became the prime minister from Uttar Pradesh and sought votes in Bihar and now you are harrassing them and are trying to send them home," she said."Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is used by Modi only for political gains, while in Gujarat, people of these states are mistreated. Modi was elected to the Parliament through Varanasi, but what is he doing to protect the livelihood of these people?," she said, alleging this phenomenon has been seen in Maharashtra too.She charged Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray was also talking of removing people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan from Maharashtra.She also said in Assam certain sections were being targeted in the name of NRC.Meanwhile, additional forces were deployed in industrial areas in Gujarat for the security of Hindi-speaking migrants after attacks on them sparked their exodus that prompted the state government on Monday to make an appeal for their return.Assuring security to the migrants, the Gujarat government said 431 people were arrested and 56 FIRs registered in connection with the attacks, as Vijay Rupani appealed to people not to engage in violence.Claiming that no untoward incident had taken place during the last 48 hours, Rupani said the situation has been brought under control by police."We are committed to maintaining law and order, and people can call police in case of trouble. We will provide them security." he told reporters in Rajkot.Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar - Yogi Adityanath and Nitish Kumar respectively - and Union minister and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan, who hails from Bihar, spoke to Rupani to voice their concern over the attacks."Since the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl in Sabarkantha district on 28 September, six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, have witnessed sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people," police said.