Ramblings: On Peepli Live and the Migrant Exodus
In the aftermath of Prime Minister Modi’s announcement of a nationwide lockdown with a token four-hour notice, a whole lot of controversies have emerged regarding the arbitrary attitude of the government and the consequential mismanagement of the entire health crisis that is brewing in the country. From faulty mathematical modelling and ineptitude of government agencies, to moral bankruptcy and police brutality, we have covered it all in the past sixty days. However, the most depressing issue of them all is the way in which the government has treated its migrant workers. The indifferent and undignified treatment of innocent migrants, plunged into an uncertain battle for survival, is a tell-tale signal of the burgeoning class divide in our society.
The migrant exodus had begun immediately after the lockdown was announced. With no money in hand and no work in sight, the migrants felt it best to leave behind the precarious lives they led in the big cities for the relative comfort of their small villages, where they would at least not be facing the threat of death by starvation. The conundrum facing them wasn’t one that could simply be brushed aside, for the cities that once sheltered their hopes of a better life no longer had the dynamism to sustain their dreams. To trust the government to provide them with sufficient food and shelter would be an enormous mistake. Those who obeyed the Prime Minister’s command to stay put later lamented their choice when they were routinely beaten up by the police and made to stand in the scorching heat for hours just to grab a morsel of rice. This government, seemingly, has criminalised the “act” of being poor!
As the migrants spilled out on the roads to make the arduous journey home, the government realised that the sight of these destitute migrants and their collective suffering will shift the spotlight on to the colossal failure of the authorities. As has been their nature, instead of attempting to alleviate the hardships, the government chose to indulge its resources in trying to hide the problem itself. Rather than managing the crisis, the babus got busy managing the headlines and the publicity. After all, focusing on the optics of the situation has been the hallmark of the Modi-rajya (a slap on the faces of all those fantasizing over Ram-rajya).
India seems to be no country for the poor. As if the migrants were not already shouldering the brunt of government apathy and neglect, the spate of avoidable accidents that they have encountered on their journey is something which should compel the Prime Minister to hang his head in shame. So much so for the romanticised chant of Atithidevo Bhava (the guest is god), when at this point of time, we cannot even look after our own. Sixteen migrant workers were found crushed on the rail tracks in Aurangabad, where they had stopped to rest for the night after walking all day. Twenty-four migrants died in a tragic accident in Auraiya when two trucks packed with people collided at a dhaba.
Reports of helpless migrants being killed in road accidents have been coming in from all over the country. In Telangana, eight of a group of migrants travelling home died after they met with an accident in late March. In another accident that occurred in last week of March, four migrants were run over on the Mumbai-Gujarat highway as they were heading home. According to a group of researchers, over 650 people have died in the lockdown period so far due to causes such as exhaustion from walking, starvation, financial distress, road accidents, police brutality and lack of medical attention. This is a striking figure which prompts the question: shouldn’t the government be held accountable for these deaths, or perhaps, murders?
What’s more despicable in this grim situation is that after these deaths are reported, all governments (whether at the Centre or the State) show their agility by announcing compensation packages, running into lakhs, to pacify the grieving families. The game of political one-upmanship that the governments indulge in by trying to score the highest compensation amount is detestable. This situation reminds me of the movie Peepli Live, which deals with the issue of farmer suicides. In the movie, two brothers who are unable to pay off a loan they had taken to get medical treatment for their mother, come to the ominous conclusion that the best way to save their farmland from being auctioned by the bank is for one of them to commit suicide. This is so because they have heard that when a farmer commits suicide, the government pays a gratuity of one lakh to the next-of-kin. The chain of events that follow are an appropriate satirical rendition of the times we are living in.
Once the media picks up on this story, the entire state machinery springs into action in order to stop the suicide. The opposition leaders, however, try to ensure that the suicide takes place in a bid to defeat the incumbents in the forthcoming elections. The brothers realise that their lives are worth more dead than living. The media and political glare are taken away after a freak accident, in which it is believed that one of the brothers died. However, three months after the accident, the rest of the family is in no better position than they were before since the compensation cannot be paid on the technicality that the death took place due to an accident, and not by suicide.
The situation that the migrants find themselves in, is quite strikingly similar. In their quest for survival, the debate rages on that if not from the coronavirus, they will die from starvation and financial distress. In order to stem the outrage, the government, just as in the movie, is heavily invested in damage control and is trying to show concern by announcing a slew of large economic measures. The Opposition, on the other hand, is always on the lookout for a chance to sabotage the government’s response and gain political mileage out of the tragedy. Both assure the migrants that all their needs will be taken care of yet both absolve themselves of any responsibility for all those lives that are lost on account of being forced to walk for hundreds of kilometres. Like in the movie, since the cause of death is neither the virus nor starvation, the migrants are left with nothing at all, while politicians steal all the limelight with their grand packages.
Peepli Live is also a commentary on the sad state of affairs in the field of journalism. As shown in the movie, a particular section of the media is always on the lookout for sensational, scandalous stories. In the movie, the media is more interested in squeezing out emotional tales from people rather than focusing on the real issue of farmer suicides, which they consider to be pretty run-of-the-mill. In the current scenario too, the media isn’t interested in documenting the plight of the migrants, rather they are busy consulting self-styled godmen like “Baba Ramdev” and “Sri Sri Ravishankar” for finding a cure to the virus. Also, instead of focusing on the destruction and havoc wreaked by Cyclone Amphan in West Bengal and Odisha, the media chooses to go overboard with specifics of the Prime Minister’s aerial survey of Kolkata by splashing his flight timings and itinerary on the screen.
As the period of lockdown has been extended further for the fourth time, the uncertainty in the lives of the poor has only increased. It is no mystery that the rapid pace of development in the big cities hinges on the work of these poor workers, who have now been left to fend for themselves. The fact that they are indispensable to the capitalist class is seen in how swiftly the Karnataka government decided to stop the running of Shramik special trains after meeting with a lobby of builders. Therefore, it is imperative that the government take control of the situation and act responsibly towards the plight of the migrants.
