Akhilesh objects to Kamal Nath's utterance on UP-Bihar youth

LUCKNOW: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's remarks on migrants from UP and Bihar taking jobs in the State at the cost of its residents has led to controversies. While, the BJP has demanded Congress president Rahul Gandhi's apology for the comments, ally Samajwadi Party also expressed its displeasure.

"Lot of industries are set up in which take people from other states, like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. I don't want to criticize them, but the young people of Madhya Pradesh remain deprived," Kamal Nath said, suggesting government incentives for industries who give 70 per cent of their jobs to people from the state.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who was missing from the ranks of opposition parties who attended the oath ceremonies of Kamal Nath and two other Congress chief ministers on Monday, sharply criticized the comments. "This is wrong. In Maharashtra, you hear questions like why have north Indians come here. Why are north Indians doing business here? The same questions come from Delhi. Now this is coming from Madhya Pradesh. If north Indians get together and decide then who will come to the center," Yadav.

Congress' Bihar ally RJD was also critical. The party's lawmaker and spokesman Bhai Virendra said such comments "should be avoided" as every citizen of the country was free to live and work anywhere.

Union Minister Giriraj Kishore of the BJP said Kamal Nath should clarify what he meant and "Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar".

He said: "The people of Bihar and UP work hard for development of the states they go to. Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the people of Bihar and UP or else people will give him an answer."

Taking umbrage at Kamal Nath's assertions, BJP national General Secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya accused the Congress of playing divisive politics.

"Kamal Nath was born in Uttar Pradesh and it doesn`t suit him to speak against people of the state where he was born. It is unfortunate that the Congress is indulging in divisive politics seeking to pit one region against the other," said Vijayvargiya.

This is not first such controversy in the backdrop of migrants from UP and Bihar. Recently, in October this year, thousands of such migrants fled from Gujarat following hate messages being circulated over social media leading to attacks on migrants.

It all began on September 28, when a 14-month-old girl in the Sabarkantha district of Gujarat was allegedly raped by a man hailing from Bihar. The accused was arrested but the incident created a rage among a section of Gujaratis, who mobilised small mobs to attack unrelated migrant workers.