JD(U) workers today burnt an effigy of BJP chief Nitin Gadkari here for his alleged remarks on migrant population in big cities, following which BJP maintained that the comments were not against migrants and said it will discuss the issue with its key ally.
JD(U) youth wing president Govind Yadav said his party's Delhi state unit workers burnt Gadkari's effigy in Jantar Mantar as the BJP president's statement was "unconstitutional and undemocratic".
"In Delhi and Mumbai, the migrants form the soul of the city," Yadav said.
"Gadkari had not made any such statement. He had only said that migration was creating problems. Urbanisation is a natural process but the government has not done anything to deal with the issue. Only now they have come up with JNNURM scheme," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
He insisted that Gadkari was only pointing to the absence of adequate infrastructure to meet the influx of migrants to big cities in search of jobs. "The government has completely failed to comprehend this problem," Javadekar said.
He also sought to downplay the burning of Gadkari's effigy by JD(U) workers.
"Our alliance is eternal. I will talk to Sharad Yadav (NDA convenor and JD-U president) about this," Javadekar said.
Yesterday, Gadkari had clarified his position in a statement saying, "India is one country and it is the constitutional right of its citizens to go to any state and settle there."
