Clearly, the Congress party has taken the wind out of the sails of the ruling BJP in the way the migrant labour issue was handled by the Union government. The belated attempts by the Modi government, to include a fund component for migrants in the economic stimulus measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, might not fully save the government’s face.
The migrants in the country number over 40 crore, a large segment if seen in the context of the vote bank politics that is being practised by all the parties. The BJP, its emphasis placed mostly on the Hindutva kind of offensives targeting minorities, failed to grasp the importance of the collective electoral strength of migrants spread across the country. The Modi government cared little for them. It was only after the Congress party came from behind and raised a platform to air grievances of the migrants that the Modi government woke up to the problem and announced fund allocations of Rs 1,000crore for feeding migrant labourers stuck in camps in major cities. How this will impact future electoral politics is to be observed.
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Some say that the demand of the migrants to be transported back homes is unjustified. However, those who think in this manner forget that the migrant labourers would not have demanded nor needed any governmental help if not for the sudden announcement of an unplanned lockdown. Instead of announcing the Janata curfew for Sunday 22 March on Friday 20 March, the Prime Minister could have easily announced complete lockdown was being scheduled for 24 March and that would have offered time enough for these labourers to sort out their lives. The penchant for surprise and drama has given this nation a bad time since November 8, 2016 when the sudden announcement of Demonetisation had taken place. That same technique being used for lockdown was completely unnecessary and has created millions as refugees in their own country.
We all accept India as a united country. Yet, the migrant labour crisis has opened the eyes of concerned citizens that our internal divide is acute. Take for example the behavior of the government of Gujarat as well as the moneyed people of that state. Undoubtedly it is accepted that states like Orissa and Bihar have failed to generate job opportunities within their borders. This has resulted in mass migrations of the lower economic strata from these states to more prosperous states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab. Not only shall industries of Gujarat and Maharashtra suffer because of these labourers returning back home but also the rich farmers of Punjab will take a solid beating if they lose out on the farm hands from eastern India. In spite of this scenario, the present crisis demonstrated that neither the industrialists nor the farmers took upon themselves the responsibility of ensuring basic survival necessities of the labour force that had been working for them. While the governments in most of these states debunked their responsibilities towards citizens of India, no matter if they are from other states, the Karnataka government went many steps ahead in proving this is not one nation and exposed its business nexus when it asked for cancellation of special labour trains. This need for cancellation arose when rich builders pressurized the state government to ensure the labour used for construction work does not get to go home. Had the nationwide criticism not been shrill enough, the Karnataka BJP government would have stuck to its guns and could have succeeded in creating a 21st Century forced slavery situation.
Prime Minister Modi’s announcement on 20 March could have been a simple message to prepare for a terribly long haul of suffering. Sadly, the pomp and glamour of office seems to have nibbled away at the heart strings of our leaders.
