Falsehood has a short life: COVID19 and India’s migrant workers’ crisis
Much has been written about the internal migrant workers’ crisis in India by media shenanigans both in India and overseas. But this week, the Railway Minister put the facts in the public domain and it turned out that the culprits were the states ruled by Modi’s opposition parties. These states were not giving permission for special trains to take migrant workers back home. The media and the ‘’party’’ journalists who screamed hoarse about the migrant workers’ plight have gone in hiding after the Railway Minister’s media statement.
Building a false narrative
When Prime Minister Modi announced a nationwide lockdown on 24 March 2020, the migrant workers were asked to stay put to avoid the spread of COVID19. The state government was given the responsibility to provide them food and other life essentials as their workplaces closed. The state government had the responsibility to look after the migrant workers. Given the financial and logistical burden, it entailed some states tried to shirk that responsibility. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) which ruled Delhi allegedly spread a rumor that the neighboring Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has arranged buses to take migrant workers home at the Delhi-UP border. The AAP even arranged buses to transport them to Anand Vihar — a place near the border. Consequently, thousands thronged at Anand Vihar on 29 March. The Centre and the UP government were caught unaware of this ‘’engineered’’ crisis but tried to resolve it by opening facilities for migrant workers who had crossed the border and entered UP. Probably, after a hard slap from the Centre, the AAP government transported the stranded workers who were still inside Delhi to their local residence and the crisis was averted.
But meanwhile, some workers chose to walk on foot to their villages in UP. A journalist (Barkha — who received accolades from UN declared terrorist Hafiz Saeed) saw an opportunity. By highlighting the plight of the workers walking home, she blamed the Modi government for not making transportation arrangements for them. She avoided blaming the Delhi government for not making arrangements for migrant workers to stay put as required. She even asked for easing lockdown to stop worker’s plight, though COVID19 cases were rising. Was she so naïve as not to understand that lockdown relaxation would have spread the virus when the priority was to stop that? Western media immediately picked up the story.
The Delhi the incident was replicated on 13 April in Mumbai, where the Congress Party rules. Migrant workers thronged at a local railway station following a rumor. Yet another Modi-hater — Suzanne Arundhati Roy (a far-left activist accused of grabbing tribal land) — and Rana Ayyub gave the story a communal spin.
One wonders whether the anti-Modi forces wanted the virus to spread to dent Modi’s stature globally as he received accolades from WHO, the US, and other countries for exemplary performance in checking COVID19.
Design exposed
The Railway ministry noted that since 1st May, 1,000 special trains ferried 1.2 million migrant workers, students, and tourists to their home state. Interestingly, as against the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar which received 487 and 254 trains respectively, the Congress Party ruled Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand permitted only 22, two, and 48 trains to enter their respective states. The state of West Bengal which is ruled by a non-BJP party allowed only nine trains. These recalcitrant states continued to turn Nelson’s eye to the plight of workers from their own state despite prodding from the Modi government.
The travel, food, etc on board was free (with 85% cost borne by the Central government and 15% by the state government), only the receiving and sending states had to agree and request the Railway to provide transportation. However, here lies the crux of the issue. Most migrants work in Gujarat (a BJP-ruled state). It was eager to send the workers to their home state. But once they reach their home state it was the responsibility of that state to make arrangements for their food and living and transportation to villages, impacting the budget of the receiving state. Consequently, they are reluctant to let the workers return home, thereby putting the financial burden on the sending state (say Gujarat).
Political games
The anti-Modi lobby banked on Modi’s likely failure to control COVID19 as the New York Times predicted that cases would rise to 500 million. But it appears that when Modi successfully controlled the mass spread of COVID19 and received accolades from the WHO and world leaders, the anti-Modi lobby consisting of Sonia Gandhi led Congress Party, leftist parties, and the ‘’committed’’ dynasty loyal journalists pushed plan B — migrant workers plight — into action. Global media carried stories of migrant workers plight hiding the COVID19 success story of India from mid- April.
But the Railway Minister’s statement has disrobed the real culprits in the migrant workers’ saga. The Modi government has also unveiled an unprecedented economic package of twenty trillion rupees to revive the Indian economy and migrant workers have received a special package.
Now, the doomsday anti-Modi cohort has gone in the hiding. The same cabal has spread rumors against Modi over the years, though their falsehood has been exposed time and again. But old habits die hard they say.
The migrant workers’ crisis has again brought to the fore, that falsehood has a short life.
