Delhi Congress Chief Anil Kumar Chaudhary on Sunday said that the police had detained him at his residence. Chaudhary alleged that he was detained for helping migrant workers amid a nationwide lockdown to combat the coronavirus, IANS reported.

“Police came to my home from the New Ashok Nagar police station in the morning today,” Chaudhary said in a video he posted on Twitter. “They told me that I was being detained but no reason was given for doing so.”

Chaudhary said that he does not understand why the Centre and the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in New Delhi want to prevent him and the Congress from helping the people of the state. He said nobody can stop “soldiers” of the Congress party from helping the people.

“The Congress is providing help to the starving migrant workers, that’s why I went to the Ghazipur border yesterday,” Chaudhary said, according to PTI. “People will not spare these governments that are detaining us for helping migrant workers.”

However, a senior police officer said Chaudhary was only questioned and asked to stay at home. “We were patrolling in the area when we came to know through some migrants that Anil Kumar had assured them some help in migrating to their native place,” he said. “So, we requested him to remain at home and not venture out.”

Another unidentified police officer told IANS that Chaudhary brought a number of migrant labourers to the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border over the last two days. “No social distancing was being maintained. This could lead to further problems,” the officer added.

On Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi met a group of migrant workers who were camping near a flyover in the Sukhdev Vihar locality of Delhi. Photos of Gandhi sitting on the pavement and talking to workers and their families were widely circulated on social media. Media reports suggested that the workers who Gandhi spoke to were later detained by the Delhi Police.

The Congress leader reportedly discussed the hardships faced by the workers as they undertake long journeys in a desperate attempt to reach their hometowns. Gandhi wanted to know why workers had been walking to their hometowns despite the provision of “Shramik Special” trains by the Centre since May 1.

There have also been instances of migrant labourers dying while on their way back home, due to exhaustion or accidents.

Delhi has so far reported 9,333 cases of Covid-19, including 129 deaths, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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