Industry hit in Kerala as workers from West Bengal, Assam leave for voting

Kabir Ahmad (title modified), a migrant employee in Perumbavoor, needed to spend a small fortune on a flight ticket to return house to Hojai district of Assam final month following his dad and mom’ anguished plea to get again in time for voting. Their desperation was borne out of the perceived hazard posed to the group by the National Register of Citizens (NRC) proposed by the Union authorities and the price that every wasted vote might entail in the battle to maintain the laws at bay. Though not totally satisfied of their anxiousness, Kabir, who has been in Kerala for over a decade and speaks fluent Malayalam, did vote in the election held on April 1.

The State elections to the Assemblies of West Bengal and Assam appear to have assumed unprecedented significance among the many sizeable migrant communities from these two States in the wake of the NRC and its potential implications, resulting in their mass exodus again house regardless of having returned right here after appreciable wrestle in search of jobs following the COVID-19-induced lockdown.

Plywood, building, and hospitality industries in the State have been severely hit following their exit. “The production in plywood industry dropped by about 40%. The migrants from the religious minority community fear that if they do not turn up to vote, the local politicians may abandon them,” says Mujeeb Rahman, State president, All Kerala Plywood and Block Board Manufacturers Association.

“There is a definite fear psychosis among the migrants from the religious minorities in the northeastern States and West Bengal reflecting in the unprecedented interest in the Assembly elections. Those from the religious minority community perceive it as a vote against the implementation of the NRC and those from the majority community as a vote for it,” says Benoy Peter, government director, Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development.

The hospitality business, which is closely reliant on migrant workers from the northeast and West Bengal has additionally felt the pinch. “Most of our major clients are facing difficulties and there seems no permanent solution in sight. Our attempt to fill the gap by bringing in migrants from Odisha has failed in the face of large-scale attrition,” says T.R. Krishnakumar, director of enterprise growth, KLR Facility Management Private Limited, which provides human useful resource to main gamers in the business.

In pineapple farming

The pineapple sector too has witnessed a pointy fall in the variety of workers although the worth of the fruit has gone as much as ₹40 a kg after a year-long stoop. Around 25,000 workers from different States work in the sector and about 20,000 are from Assam and West Bengal. Most of those workers have gone again for the elections, stated Baby John, a pineapple farmer in Vazhakkulam. Shine Kallungal, a pineapple farmer in Muvattupuzha, stated there was a extreme scarcity of fingers in the sector, which might have an effect on farmers’ returns.

With practice providers far from regular, migrants depend on contract carriages to return, which dents their meagre financial savings, says George Mathew, coordinator, Progressive Workers’ Organisation.

Different situation

The identical degree of desperation is, although, not seen among the many migrants in Tamil Nadu, which can be going to polls. Besides, being the oldest migrant group in the State, many now will vote right here, like 38-year-old Murugeswari, who moved into Vathuruthy in Kochi from Dindigul over a decade in the past.