Migrant Workers Flee ‘Vibrant’ Gujarat: BJP’s Flawed Model Exposed

Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay writes about the flawed Gujarat model, as exposed through the recent migrant worker exodus.

The targeting of migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and even Madhya Pradesh as proxies for the man who allegedly raped an infant girl almost a fortnight ago in Sabarkantha district in north Gujarat, has unfortunately been given a political tinge although this should have been seen as symptomatic of the flaw in the so-called Gujarat model.

Gujarat Can’t Cope With Aspirations of its People

The attacks which resulted in numerous migrants fleeing Gujarat overnight – a petition filed in Gujarat High Court claims two lakh migrants have fled the state with dreams bundled on their heads and shoulders with children in tow, is actually evidence of the state's socio-economic fabric being unable to cope with the legitimate demands and rising aspirations of the people.

As their frustrations mounted steadily over the years, the political leadership – instead of fixing problems – only harnessed the emotions of Gujaratis to live under a falsified glory of superiority, over people from other states.

Consequently, as it has happened quite often in the past, people identified the imaginary ‘other’ who was blamed for all their ills. Like in most cases, this time too it were the hapless migrants who were targeted.

That the anger against migrants was directed for other reasons is evident from the fact that the attacks started well after the alleged rapist was arrested. Revenge attacks often take place when the accused is either unidentified or on the run. In this case however, the alleged rapist was nabbed within half an hour of the girl child going missing.

BJP’s Politically-Motivated Narrative

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Despite this, messages began circulating among villages close by. Following this, attacks were launched the same night on factories employing mainly migrant workers. It is clear from the chain of events that anger was not directed at just the accused. Because the victims had no connection with the crime except that they were also migrants, it is obvious that the fury against the targeted was for different reasons.

The state government and the BJP have opted for a politically-motivated narrative and shifted responsibility of the attacks on Congress legislator Alpesh Thakor.

But it must be kept in mind that Thakor remains a leader who is yet to shed his primary moorings –he emerged on the scene by mobilising the OBC community, primarily Thakors, against the Hardik Patel-led demand for job reservations for his community.

He is simply a product of his time and is backed by people whose angst he articulates, just as Modi did in 2002. Hindutva as a political idea is certainly not uniting people anymore in the face of community-specific grievances.

The Patel agitation since August 2015 for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions, is itself paradoxical, because while the community paralysed Gujarat in 1985 to protest the Congress government’s pre-Mandal decision to increase reservation for OBCs from 10 to 28 percent.

Now they are seeking inclusion in the list because it will entitle them to privileges. At the root of this problem is ceaseless fragmentation of agricultural and urban land with the passing of every generation, coupled with the failure of the new economy to absorb new job seekers.

Migrant-Domicile Clash

Gujarat has a long history of in-migration, partly due to manual labour not being the most preferred job among most Gujarati communities possibly due to the dominating influence of the state's entrepreneurial culture. In such a situation, the industry, starved of good talent – skilled or unskilled – provided adequate facilities to migrant workers to woo and retain them. There has been a consistent rise in the number of migrants year after year, and many have stayed on to make Gujarat their home, especially in industrial centres like Surat.

The government of Gujarat has not addressed fundamental flaws in the much-hyped Gujarat model.

There has also been little effort to study issues confronting native residents of the state, and counsel youth to alternate professions. Rising frustration has led to almost ceaseless social unrest since 2015.

Instead of conceptualising long-term solutions, the state government, with backing from the party leadership, decided to prioritise issues raised by the industry, and the migrant population which has emerged as a last-minute vote bank.

One such matter which prevented the industry from retaining workers, was the 15-year period before they could secure domicile status. This emerged as a major issue earlier in the year when the government made it mandatory for students to submit the domicile certificate while seeking admissions to medical and paramedical courses in the state. As a result, the Vijay Rupani government mooted earlier this year, to reduce the period of residency from fifteen years to two years, to become a domicile of Gujarat.

But to balance this and to ensure that native residents do not feel outnumbered by outsiders, the government simultaneously proposed a law that would make it imperative for the local industry to give at least 80 percent of the jobs to persons belonging to Gujarat.

BJP Playing Both Sides

Days before violence against the migrants broke out, Rupani declared at an event in Ahmedabad, “those who set up business in Gujarat, including the service sector, will have to ensure that 80 percent of the jobs are given to Gujaratis.”

Obviously, the government is trying to please both migrants and natives: on the one hand it is reducing the waiting period for domicile status from 15 years to 2 years and on the other hand it is introducing an 80 percent reservation in industrial jobs for domiciles of Gujarat. This is mere plumbing because the problem of alienation of Gujarati urban youth will begin staring it in the face within just a couple of years the moment thousands of people start becoming domiciles of the state.

It is yet to be seen what the state government proposes to do with these two ideas. Alpesh Thakor clearly used the rape of the infant to put the issue of agitating Gujarati OBC youth on the forefront. Blaming him may enable the BJP to score a political point and its success can be discerned from Thakor's decision for a Modi-style sadbhavna upwas (fast for goodwill).

BJP’s False Claims?

But painting this conflict as an instance of ‘political grandstanding gone awry’ will neither help BJP's cause nor enable the state government to contain local anger and ensuring industrial tranquillity.

The BJP will also suffer reverses in the forthcoming elections in MP and Rajasthan and eventually in UP and Bihar in 2019, as horror tales are taken back and circulated.

In 2013, Modi claimed in election meetings that Gujarat was an ideal state and migrants from all over north India went to the state for work. “The moment their trains cross into Gujarat, their families feel secure,” he had claimed in several meetings. The BJP will hope this claim is not recalled by people.

(The writer is a Delhi-based writer and journalist. He authored ‘Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times’ and ‘Sikhs: The Untold Agony of 1984’. He can be reached @NilanjanUdwin. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)