The history of our country has always left me fascinated. A faraway exotic land that the westerners wanted to conquer. Looks like a plot of some magical film. Although, what followed wasn’t magical at all and changed the coming years of our country to some extent. While the past fascinates me, the present baffles me. It makes me wonder about all those things we could have done together and what we could have become as a country, but sadly what we are. I know our condition is better off than other countries in the world, true, but it is also worse than some countries.
As far as I can remember every general election has had the poor and the marginalised on its ‘to be benefitted’ list. Years after years, the leaders have changed but sadly the segment of the population to be benefitted hasn’t changed. And to date that hasn’t changed. It was the poor who struggled to survive, so much so that they had to leave their families and villages altogether in search of better job opportunities, it was the poor helpless father who had to send his son to the city to work, thinking that the trafficker is a Godsend gift, who will change all of their lives for better, and it was the unfortunate migrant laborer who thought that at least in the times of crises, he won’t be robbed off his chances of going back home just because he didn’t pay the bus/train ticket. According to the tweet of The Indian Express, the migrant labourers had to pay the train and bus fare, which apparently was to be distributed between center and state.
Ever since the lockdown has been announced in the country, the focus of the entire country was on three events: 1. How many cases have registered today, 2. When will the PM address the nation next time, and 3. What is the deal with the migrant labourers? Why cant they ever be satisfied with what they have and what they are getting? Like isn’t the government already doing enough for them? Let’s try asking this question to the financially better off classes, are you satisfied with what you have? I am hoping we all have the answer, yet none will come up to say it out loud. While you are hankering after those expensive shoes or that new car, these labourers on the other hand are trying really hard to make ends meet. They stay away from their family so that they can see their son/daughter enrolling for school, so that they do not end up in this vicious cycle.
The next argument could be that sure, if they want to go home, they should be willing to pay for themselves. Sure! Someone who has 200000 or maybe more can afford to pay 1000 bucks, but what if all that labourer had was 1000 bucks?
I think it’s time that we replace sympathy with empathy and try to do our bit. And even if we cannot help, we should not try to become an obstacle, robbing them off of the benefits meant solely for them.