The problems faced by migrant labourers come under the spotlight only when they are part of mainstream politics, as seen during the Covid-induced lockdown and now, when Bengali-speaking people are being branded Bangladeshis, researchers and activists said.
Their plight is largely unnoticed, they said, batting for fundamental and structural reforms. The first step towards course correction would be the creation of a comprehensive nationwide database on migrant labour, they said.
“The two main planks of the Opposition now are the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls and the torment of Bengali-speaking migrant workers in several states. Both Bengali pride and the right to vote are vital issues. But there is a fundamental problem with how we treat migrant labourers. That comes to the fore only when it can be politicised. Otherwise, migrant workers are not part of the mainstream political discourse,” said political scientist Ranabir Samaddar, founder and professor emeritus of the Calcutta Research Group, known for its research and advocacy on issues of forced migration, displacement, citizenship and borders.
The CRG and Know Your Neighbour, a campaign to promote shared living and communal amity, organised a news conference on the “persecution” of Bengali-speaking migrant workers on Tuesday.
Samata Biswas, CRG member and assistant professor at the Sanskrit College, said there was no dearth of legal provisions safeguarding the rights of migrant labourers. The problem was their implementation, she said.
“Article 19 of the Constitution gives all citizens the right to live and work anywhere in India. The Inter-State Migrant Workmen (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1979, is expected to safeguard migrant workers both in their home state and the place where they live and work. Despite specific protection provisions, recording of departure and arrival, payment of adequate and timely wages, and displacement allowance, the Covid-19 lockdown and the resultant long march of the migrant workers proved that neither were its provisions adhered to, nor did it help the migrant workers in time of distress,” she said.
Ahmed Hassan Imran, chairperson of the state minorities’ commission, linked the rise in attacks on Bengali-speaking migrant workers to a concerted effort by the Right-wing ecosystem to spread division and hatred in the run-up to the state elections next year.
Sabir Ahamed, convener of Know Your Neighbour, called for an intensified campaign to support migrant workers. He cited examples from the Delhi-NCR region, where auto drivers were scared to play Bengali music lest they be targeted as Bangladeshis.
Sabyasachi Basu Ray Chaudury, professor at Rabindra Bharati University and president of CRG, said migrant labourers have been wronged by neo-liberal economic policies. “The migration of capital and technology is almost seamless. But the migration of labour is constantly under stress,” he said.