Mumbai:
Malaria has claimed 40 lives in Mumbai since January including 19 in the month of July and instead of jumping into damage control mode, the city's netas are doing what they do best, indulging in the blame game.
Echoing cousin Uddhav Thackeray's sentiment, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray launched yet another tirade against migrants, this time blaming them for the rise in malaria cases. And the north Indian leaders hit back threatening to take to the streets against the Sena and the MNS.
Former MLA and NCP general secretary Abhiram Singh said, "Raj Thackeray should be agitated with the BMC rather than blaming 'outsiders' for spreading malaria. Raj's statement is an insult to people from the country's 28 other states. If there is one party to be held responsible it's the BJP-Shiv Sena and we will agitate against them."
Some leaders feel that politicising this issue is certainly not a solution to the city's problem. "I'm hurt by the statements that blame people from a particular region for the spread of malaria. These leaders are practising politics of a different kind," said MRCC President Kripashankar Singh.
The civic body did get the flak for their inability to control the spread of malaria in the city. Narendra Verma, president, NCP (city unit), said, "Tomorrow if there are potholes on the road you can't blame the migrants for it. While the malaria death graph in the state has come down, Mumbai has seen a rise in the number of deaths. Clearly, the BMC and the Shiv Sena has failed in its responsibility."
"Raj Thackeray's claim that migrants are spreading malaria is baseless. The BMC should declare malaria as an epidemic," he added.
According to Congress MP Priya Dutt, Raj's comments were an attempt at making a mockery of the whole issue. "This is not a scientific explanation about the spread of malaria. The mosquitoes are not selective about whom they bite or do not bite," she said.
Interestingly, officials of the BMC's health department seem to agree partially with the Thackerays.
"Construction sites are the breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Most construction workers are outsiders and contract the disease, as they dwell in unhygienic surroundings and have unhygienic habits. Therefore, a combination of both leads to the spread of malaria," said a senior official from the health department.