Mumbai: It’s been 53 years since the Shiv Sena caught the attention of the people of Maharashtra with its anti-migrant stand, but now, it seems to have moved on to a more moderate stand. A party that has spared no opportunity in the past to hit out at migrants — from southern as well as northern states — its present-day moderation seems to be a lesson learnt from the Covid-19 national lockdown.
When the lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the evening of 24 March, to be implemented that midnight, nearly one crore migrant labourers and daily wagers were stranded across the country according to the central government, with an estimated six lakh in Maharashtra, according to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO). While a majority of those stranded hail from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, this population also includes those from Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
According to a senior Shiv Sena functionary, the figure of six lakh indicates those who are presently at the various state government relief centres.
“There are many migrants living in the slums and in the chawls. Every corner of the state has migrants. Unofficially, there are nearly 20 lakh migrants across Maharashtra,” said the leader.
This has left Maharashtra facing a double-edged sword in its fight against Covid19 — it not only has the highest number of coronavirus-positive patients, over 10,506, but also the highest migrant population in the country.
But Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has been trying to reassure them through his Facebook Live videos that they are safe in the state.
“You are in Maharashtra and you will be safe. Stay where you are, you will be safe,” he has told the migrants in two different addresses.
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Why migrants are desperate
Last week saw a sizeable number of north Indian migrant labourers and daily wagers start walking towards their home states on foot. Aid workers helping the migrants with rations and medicines said this was due to widespread fears among them about Covid-19 testing.
These workers, reportedly from Thane’s Wagle Estate area, which is sealed after Covid-positive cases were found here, set out with toddlers and infants in tow, using dusty paths running parallel to the national highway, according to aid workers.
“They are scared of being quarantined. Their knowledge is all hearsay. They have heard that families are separated if they have coronavirus. That is why they started walking in the direction of their home states,” said Rosita Morey, an aid worker in Thane, a district neighbouring Mumbai.
The batch which set out from Thane on 25 April reached Nashik on the afternoon of 27 April — a distance of 146 km which can usually be covered in two and a half hours by bus. Since then, there are many more who have started out on foot towards Uttar Pradesh (at least 1,376 km from Mumbai) and Bihar (at least 1,803 km from Mumbai).
Speaking to ThePrint, a person in-charge of a migrants’ relief centre in Palghar said: “They want to go home. That feeling has turned to desperation now. They are hungry, cash-strapped and in the centres without any means of communication, as they don’t have the money to recharge their mobile phones. The food we give them may not be enough for their needs.”
It is common practice for migrant labourers and daily wagers to go back home after Holi. They stay in their villages during the summer months and start returning to Maharashtra in June. Holi was on 10 March and the short-term reverse-migration was in progress when the national lockdown was announced.
“They save money and take it back home. This time, they have no money to take back home. A majority of the families depend on the money they take back home. The thought that they are going back empty-handed to poverty and hunger is making them desperate,” said Dhiren Thakur, an aid worker from Navi Mumbai.
Departure from Bal Thackeray’s stance
At this time, Uddhav’s assurance of safety has come as a huge departure from the Shiv Sena’s anti-migrant stance, which was devised and given momentum by Uddhav’s father and party founder Bal Thackeray.
The senior Thackeray propagated the anti-migrant sentiments through a satirical cartoon magazine, Marmik, which he started publishing in 1960. The Shiv Sena, founded entirely on the anti-migrant sentiment, came into being as a political organisation on 19 June 1966. Bal Thackeray’s fiery anti-migrant oratory attracted unemployed Marathi youth into its fold.
This sentiment translated into violent attacks and vandalism against the south Indian migrants, who came to Mumbai (then Bombay) in large numbers to take up many white-collar jobs. Then, as the migration from southern India started drying up, the influx started from the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, aided by the Hindi lobby in Maharashtra’s politics.
Unlike the white-collar south Indian migrants, the north Indians took up anything they could find — cab driver, vegetable and fruit seller, loader, driver, milkman, dhobi, hard-cart puller.
“Raj Kapoor’s movies popularised Mumbai as ‘mayanagari’, where no one went hungry. That has been the best endorsement of Mumbai, and it started attracting migrants,” said Kamini Mathai, who is doing research on the migrants in Maharashtra for a Pune-based research organisation. .
Since the 1980s, the Shiv Sena had been vehemently opposed to migrants thronging Mumbai, and later across Maharashtra, in search of livelihood. Shiv Sainiks (party cadres) have spared no efforts to ensure that these north Indian migrants left the state — from violent assaults on them to vandalising their businesses, not allowing them to celebrate the Chhath Pooja to demanding that they learn Marathi to remain in Maharashtra.
While in the opposition, the Shiv Sena had started a sustained campaign to “kick out” the migrants, particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Its entire politics as an opposition party was based on the issue that these daily wagers from other states were responsible for taking away the jobs of the Marathi manoos (sons of the soil).
When Raj Thackeray — Uddhav’s first cousin and now chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena — was still in the Shiv Sena, his supporters had led an attack on north Indian out-of-state candidates who had come to Maharashtra to appear for the railway recruitment and other competitive examinations.
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Sainiks now accepting all-inclusivity
Since Uddhav Thackeray took over as the Shiv Sena chief following the death of his father in November 2012, the party has seen moderation and a softening of its anti-migrant policy. Now, Uddhav’s “all-inclusive” stance as chief minister has made the Shiv Sainiks accept it too, said Prakash Akolkar, a political analyst who has been a keen observer of the Shiv Sena’s policies since the 1980s, and is the author of Jai Maharashtra, a book on the journey of the Shiv Sena.
“Though Uddhav Thackeray continues to be the Shiv Sena chief, his job as the chief minister takes precedence over his party work. There has been a dramatic shift in the party’s anti-migrant stand since he became the CM,” Akolkar told ThePrint.
“Uddhav has been compelled to change. He has understood that in this role reversal, he is also responsible for the safety of the migrants while they are in Maharashtra. It is over seven years since Balasaheb Thackeray passed away, and the party has shifted from being anti-migrants to pro-migrants,” he said.
In many places across Maharashtra, youth bodies affiliated to the Shiv Sena are providing rations to migrants and others. The Yuva Sena — headed by the CM’s son and state minister Aaditya Thackeray — is also running community kitchens to help the poor.
Both times Uddhav addressed migrants, though the rest of his speech was in Marathi, he spoke in Hindi when addressing the migrants — a first for the Shiv Sena because its leaders, including Uddhav, have stood steadfast by Marathi.
Facilitating migrants’ journey home
In the midst of the migrants’ desperation, Uddhav Thackeray and his government have been trying to facilitate their return to their home states, according to central guidelines.
Although the national lockdown has been extended for two weeks beyond 3 May, the central government has issued guidelines for the inter-state travel of stranded migrant labourers and daily wagers after 4 May. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra is working on the modalities of the transportation. The district collectors have been appointed as the nodal officers to facilitate the transfers.
“The migrants who want to go to their native villages in other states will have to register at these nodal offices which have been set up throughout Maharashtra,” said Home Minister Anil Deshmukh via FBLive.
“Their addresses and mobile numbers will be taken. Their temperatures will be taken. Only those who are fit for travel will be allowed to go. If anyone is found to be Covid-19 positive, they will be quarantined,” said Deshmukh.
Speaking to the media via FBLive, the Minister for Rural Development Jayant Patil said that the guidelines for this will be released after the Cabinet meeting as it involves multiple issues. “Do the manpower of the nodal offices go to the relief centre and register them and check their health status or will they be taken to the nodal centres, which will be set up shortly, quarantine facilities for those who test positive and other issues will be discussed,” he said.
The state government will work closely with the Railways to work out the plans for starting trains to transport the migrants, said Patil.
Two trains have since left Saturday morning from Nashik ferrying stranded migrants to UP. These migrants were taken to Nashik from the relief centres close by. Only those with special passes were allowed to board the train.
Since a majority of the districts are in the red and orange zones, the government is still deliberating on the transportation of migrants from these zones. So far only the Nashik train station is operational.
Minister for Special Assistance Vijay Wadettiwar told TV channels that the government is discussing all the issues arising out of the situation.
Meanwhile, in Chandrapur district, about 1,500-plus migrants came on to the Chandrapur-Hyderabad highway this morning in protest demanding that they be provided transportation to go to their native villages.
Speaking to TV channels former Finance Minister and BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar said that the Maharashtra government must immediately issue a GR (Government Resolution) on its decision regarding the transportation of migrants to their native states.
Before the Centre announced the guidelines for the movement of migrants between states, CM Uddhav had held hectic parleys with his counterparts in UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. “While the other states have shown keenness in getting back their people, Bihar is still not so keen,” said a government source.
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