Having lived in the State for over 15 years, Mahiful Islam from West Bengal never felt as much an outcast as he did post-lockdown.
A fish vendor near Bengali Colony, a place that derived its name from the large migrant presence, in Perumbavoor, he chose to stay back for the online education of his six-year-old daughter. A local resident, however, could not digest the fact that the family had chosen to stay back unlike majority of others in the colony.
Since then, Islam had filed a petition with the Perumbavoor police, who have registered a case invoking IPC 324 (Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means).
After being reasonably well sheltered and fed unlike their counterparts elsewhere in the country during the lockdown, the everyday reality of being looked down upon as an outsider seems to have returned for migrant workers in the State. With a section of migrants in Palakkad and Thrissur testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, they are now being seen as carriers of the virus.
“While the anxiety of local people is not completely unfounded, the fact is that migrant workers are being stigmatised disproportionately. They were already seen as unhygienic and as criminals, and the pandemic has only compounded that stigma,” said Benoy Peter, executive director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development.
The incident was not isolated either. Recently, the Muvattupuzha police arrested three local youngsters who physically assaulted migrant workers and even attacked the police who intervened in the issue, not to mention random audio clippings being circulated via social media urging people to be ‘alert’ to the presence of migrant workers in their locality.
“For migrants from States like West Bengal, Assam, and Odisha who account for the largest migrant workforce in the State, returning home is not an option either, as there were hardly any trains to these States unlike to Mumbai and Delhi,” said Mr. Peter.
However, a senior Labour Department official said no incident targeting migrants had come to the department’s notice while also shooting down allegations about shortage of trains.
“So far, over 3.07 lakh migrants have left the State in over 250 trains,” he said.
The targeting of migrants is depsite trade and industry in the State reeling under the shortage of cheap and previously ubiquitous migrant workforce.
“There has been at least a 25% rise in cost ever since migrant workers became unavailable. For instance, a major builder in Kochi recently incurred more than two-fold increase in labour cost for completing a 500 sq ft space after replacing migrant workers with local labourers,” said Joji Mathews, a contractor.
George Mathew, coordinator of Progressive Workers Organisation, said while many migrant workers were willing to return, the hostile attitude kept them away. “Even previously, people were not receptive to accommodation of migrant workers in their immediate neighbourhood, and in the wake of the pandemic they are even more hostile,” he said.
Meanwhile, the local economy here and back at the home villages of migrants sustained by remittances from migrants continue to struggle. “We now hardly have 10% of business that we used to have prior to COVID-19,” said K.K. Anas, a shopkeeper at Bhai Bazaar, which catered predominantly to migrants.
