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EXODUS: FROM PARTITION TO PANDEMIC

Anyone who takes an impartial view of historical events cannot ever question the genuinity of suffering inflicted by the mass exodus during the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. Records variously mention about 10 to 12 million people as affected by the gruesome man-made tragedy in the recent history which was, however, unavoidable. Both India and Pakistan, in one way or another, washed their hands off the responsibility of the human tragedy, because there was a third player who could be held responsible for the cold-blooded acts of murder committed during the partition in 1947.

After seven decades of this gruesome  man-made  tragedy. we are witnessing a mass exodus of the scale that cannot have a parallel in the recent history, save the exodus during partition. But, if we feign ignorance about it, or a section of media underplays it as irrelevant, or a section of the political  establishment bypasses it as a political conspiracy, it cannot stand to the test of the time and we will be cornered from all sides to stand exposed as the abettor, if not the perpetrators, of this obviously manmade tragedy.

The shape of the things that evolved from the beginning of the pandemic can give us a learnt conclusion in this regard. When the government imposed a complete lock down on the vast territories of India at a short notice of 4 hours on the 24th of March, the infections counted approximately 500. The lockdown showed the efforts of the Central Government  to bypass the authority of the component federal states wherever the opposition ruled. On many occasions, it seemed that the lockdown was a carefully conceived strategy to silence the opposition and cowdown the public. Only an impartial enquiry in the future alone can reveal whether there was a need for a lockdown of this magnitude in India. It was necessary to impose full lockdown in countries like China, Italy, Spain and France because they were caught unaware and the infections had reached to an unmanageable extent even before understanding the nature of the disease.   The copycats in the Indian ruling establishment bypassed the pleas of states like Kerala which had successful experience in containing virus like the  Nipah in the past.

The problem of migrant labour began to burn the next day when thousands and thousands began walking  back their homes.  many perished on the road due to exhaustion and hunger. Many were mowed down by speeding vehicles. Yet, many others were crushed to death in accidents involving unauthorised vehicles. Adding insult to injury, they were abused and humiliated by the state which has become a police state without legislature without executive and without judiciary.

After 21 days of lockdown on 14th April, the number of Corona cases skyrocketed to more than 10000. The country entered a second lockdown from 15th April to  to 3rd May and when it was  completed, the number of Corona cases reached to more than  40000.  The third lockdown lasted from 4th May to 17th May  and during these two weeks the number of cases more than doubled to become 90,000. As the lockdown 4  was announced on 18th May, the cases on an average was increasing 5000 per day,  clearly showing no halt for the upward spiral.

At this juncture the lopsided policies of the central government showed withdrawal symptom and it was clearly announced that the policies to contain the pandemic should be implemented by the states hereafter.  On the whole, when we compare the lockdown measures in other countries  with that of India, we can come to a learnt conclusion that the lockdown in India was far more authoritarian, far more chaotic, far more irrational. far more inhuman and far more political than those of any other country. It is on this background that we should judge the man-made tragedy of migrant labour exodus.

The migrant labourers, most of whom are daily bread earners, were kept under strict confinement for over 40 odd days when the government under pressure from various quarters decided to allow their movement back home. The ensuring mayhem resulted in what could be called as one of the most abominable human tragedy in independent  India, a tragedy clearly emanated out of the fault in the decision-making by the ruling establishment. All the more, the decision to reopen the economy as and when the migrants reached  their home states should face serious scrutiny in the future so as to make a proper judgement on the measures to contain the pandemic in India.

The ruling establishment that refused to open the economy when the cases were 500 in number, allowed the reopening of the economy when it reached 100,000. The ruling establishment that refused intervention of the states in containing the pandemic when the cases were far and few, left to the states the responsibility to contain the virus when it reached every nook and corner of the country. The government and a section of media always quoted the statistics of countries that were caught unaware by the disease and it refused to entertain the data of other countries which  successfully handled the cases. As responsible citizens we have a right to receive answers to the above-mentioned questions. If we remain as mute spectators of the ongoing crisis, we will be judged by the future generations as collaborators of the great tragedy that is unfolding in front of us in our country.
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