Exodus of migrant workers from Gujarat: Cong stages protests across UP

The Congress staged protests across Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday against attacks on Hindi-speaking migrant workers in Gujarat.

In state capital Lucknow, scores of Congress workers took out a march from the party office and raised slogans against the central and Gujarat governments, party spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said.

They were stopped by the police after a short distance, Awasthi said, adding that the protesters burnt the effigies of the central and Gujarat governments.

Similar protests were held in several districts, including Hardoi, Sitapur, Gonda, Basti, Barabanki and Varanasi.

In Gorakhpur, Congress workers led by district general secretary Anwar Hussain staged a protest. They also put up posters with the message that "every Indian is welcome in Uttar Pradesh".

"We are large-hearted and do not discriminate against anyone based on where they hail from. The people of Gujarat and Maharashtra and all other parts of the country are welcome in Uttar Pradesh. I am surprised that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not uttered a single word on the issue," Anwar Hussain said.

The exodus of Hindi-speaking migrant workers from Gujarat after attacks on them in several parts of the state showed no signs of abating on Tuesday.

Since the rape of a 14-month-old girl in Sabarkantha district on September 28 and the arrest of a labourer hailing from Bihar for the crime, six districts, most of them in north Gujarat, have witnessed sporadic incidents of violence against Hindi-speaking people.

Shyam Singh Thakur, president of the Uttar Bhartiya Vikas Parishad, an outfit of north Indians in Gujarat, claimed more than 60,000 Hindi-speaking migrant labourers have fled the state so far. He claimed that people who had decided earlier to leave the state continue to board buses and trains.

Meanwhile, members of the UP-Bihar Ekta Manch, a little known organisation formed recently, put up posters in some parts of Varanasi against the violence against Hindi-speaking migrant workers in Gujarat. The organisation also took out a rally and demanded strict action against those involved the attacks.

Prime Minister Modi represents Varanasi in Parliament.