Corona Diaries 18: Migrants & Our Infinite Capacity for Meanness

Crises bring out the best and the worst in people. As the pandemic plays out with ferocity, we have heart-warming stories of selflessness, sacrifice and spirit of service from every nook of the country. We also have troubling evidence of human meanness, malice and utter lack of sensitivity. Empathy and spitefulness — the primordial traits in us stand out in sharp contrast in a panic-soaked environment.

Why does a man decide to walk home a thousand miles away with wife and young kids in tow? Why does a bunch of migrant workers choose to flee cities for their faraway villages on bicycles with only a few packets of biscuits to share during the long, arduous journey? Why would a group of fishermen buy a boat to traverse 1000 km on sea to reach Odisha from Chennai? And why would thousands of people stranded in other states beseech their own governments to take them back home?

Surely it is not for fun or a free ride at the government’s expense. They are not adventure junkies either. They are a desperate lot trying to escape the prospect of starvation and possible death in distant, inhospitable land. The disease, for them, is a secondary, distant concern; staying alive is the immediate one. They are aware of the enormous risk their decision involves yet, for them, battling the worst in familiar surroundings and among familiar faces is a better choice than enduring it elsewhere. It is normal human response. In times of crises, we yearn to be among our own.

What appears less than normal is the hostility with which they are being greeted. Their own governments don’t want them, nor do their people. Villages are off-bound. Their act of coming back home at this juncture is, in public perception, a criminal one. It has not helped that some of them have tested positive and some fled quarantine centres, fuelling panic among locals. The panic is not out of place in these unusual times. Nor is the demand to keep them off the borders for sometime.

However, what stands out is the lack of empathy for the returnees or those eager to return or those suffering great uncertainties in other states. And the crude language that conveys in uncertain terms this: Who asked you to move out for jobs? Now die wherever you are. You are not one of us. Not these exact words but several social media posts and conversation with acquaintances across states, including Odisha, make the brewing anger obvious.

There are several facets to the story. Here are a few.

ABANDONED TO THEIR FATE

It is puzzling indeed that the migrants would go unnoticed when the most responsible minds in the country initially brainstormed the pros and cons of a lockdown to keep the virus from spreading. Migrants constitute a significant chunk of our population. While no definitive count is available to us, various estimates put it at upwards of a 100 million. Inter-state migrants account for a sizeable chunk of this number. Lockdown meant a large number of them, particularly daily wage laborers, would be locked out of their meagre accommodations and have little to survive on. This possibility escaped the attention of all. To be fair to governments, they were too burdened with fighting the disease with limited resources at the point to devote sufficient attention to migrants.

That a humanitarian crisis was unfolding became evident soon and governments announced food and shelter to take care of them. Obviously, it was not good enough. People were desperate to go back home, come what may. Some seriousness about bringing them back dawned by the end of the second lockdown.

The point is how come we didn’t realise these people, living in unhygienic, cramped conditions and prone to moving about in groups, could turn out to be disease spreaders? An equally relevant point is the moral responsibility of respective governments towards them. Were the migrants abandoned to their fate? Perhaps this is not the right time to get there. It is heartening that sincere efforts are on to bring them back.

FINDING SCAPEGOATS

Scapegoating is an interesting word. It is explained as a psychological defense mechanism of denial where people or individuals project blame and responsibility for something unpleasant on others. In simple words, it is finding a villain and hanging him to prove one’s own righteousness. If he does not exist, he has to be invented and exaggerated to a great extent.

We have had plenty of scapegoating so far in our fight against the coronavirus. First, it was the markaz attendees in Delhi who were held responsible for spreading the disease across the country. A section of the media amplified it with such zeal that markaz returnees soon became interchangeable with the entire Muslim community. The hate fest continued for sometime before losing steam. Next were the Odias returning from Bengal. Some of them tested positive and soon the entire lot turned objects of hatred. Now, it is the turn of migrant workers from Surat. The villains are likely to change at regular intervals.

It is in human nature. In situations of panic, when negative instincts are hyperactive, it gets more pronounced. We need our scapegoats to claim moral high ground. But we would certainly appear more humane if we decide to put ourselves in the shoes of the scapegoats.

Also Read: Spitting On Food Or Hiding In Mosque: Here Are 7 Fake Anti-Muslim News

THE THEATRE OF HATE

Those in tears on national television, hungry and homeless, and appealing their states to take them home are obviously not people who pour hate on social media. The former are in a situation of life and death, the latter have the comfort of time, shelter and food. The only thought on the minds of the former is to be among near and dear ones, and die, if they have to, among people they have lived lives with. The latter are free of such worries. Dying batteries, malfunctioning chargers and irregular data service may be bothering them more.

Yes, they can afford to pour scorn on less fortunate people. They can afford to tell migrants to stay put and die where they are. They have social media, that theatre of hatred, malice and spitefulness, at their service. The ‘likes’ and ‘forwards’ validate them, erasing any sense of guilt.

Social media has diminished us as human beings.