Drawbridge mentality

Drawbridge mentality

From Gujarat to Assam, the outsider bogeyman finds political currency.

Following the attacks on migrant workers in Gujarat, evidence seems to suggest that Congress leader Alpesh Thakor had a hand in instigating the violence. Thakor has been railing against outsiders to his state where tensions have been high following the September 28 rape of a toddler allegedly by a labourer from Bihar. In fact, Thakor had even led a protest march against the incident, blaming migrants for the deteriorating situation. However, Thakor isn’t the first politician to pour scorn on migrant workers for growing crime and taking away jobs from locals.

After all the son-of-the-soil sentiment runs deep in Indian politics, and today’s jobs crisis has given a further fillip to playing up the outsider as bogeyman. BJP president Amit Shah’s recent categorisation of so-called illegal migrants from Bangladesh as “termites” belongs to this same genre of divisive political rhetoric. It is futile to whip up a frenzy over a National Register of Citizens (NRC) now hanging like Damocles’ sword over 40 lakh people in Assam, and being threatened in other states that have fewer migrants when at the same time, according to Dhaka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina that those left out of NRC’s list will not be deported to her country.

Which is why all leaders, whether of BJP or Congress, would do well to reflect on and follow the spirit of Modi’s message that happiness prospers with sharing. In other words, rich states or people of rich states should be welcoming of non-locals and share their prosperity, which will add to their own. Politicians should resist the temptation to play the parochialism card and deal constructively with the migrant workers issue. It would also help to focus on overall economic growth to lift all boats.