Pressure Mounts on Nitish Kumar to Bring Back Kota Students, Migrant Labour

Patna: Pressure is increasing on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to bring back thousands of migrant workers who are stranded outside the state and students stuck in Kota, Rajasthan, and other states during the lockdown, which has now been extended to May 3.

The pressure has been rising more after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath last week made arrangements to send over 200 buses to fetch students from the state stuck in educational coaching hub, Kota.

With Opposition leaders repeatedly demanding that Nitish Kumar should also make arrangements to bring back stranded people from Bihar, anger is simmering among families of thousands migrant workers and students against the state government’s failure to take a decision.

“Our children are stuck in Kota but this government is doing nothing to help us bring them back. This shows the total failure of governance in time of coronavirus crisis. We are helpless,” a senior judicial officer, who is posted as additional district judge in a district court, and whose teenaged daughter stuck in Kota since last month, told NewsClick .

The official, who requested anonymity, said he was anguished over how a ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) MLA, Anil Singh, was given permission to bring back his daughter from Kota on legitimate passes issued by the Nawada district administration.

“Is the rule different for the powerful? Are we not parents, who are passing through stress, worrying for our children stuck in Kota”, he said.

Kamlesh Prasad Singh, a businessman, whose son is among thousands of students from Bihar stuck in Kota, said the Nitish Kumar-led government had failed in its duty to bring back students.

"There is no justification to say that students will be provided every possible help and they should remain there. Nitish Kumar's loud statement not to bring students from Kota or migrant workers to Bihar to prevent the spread of coronavirus, is not acceptable", he added.

Similarly, Lakhiya Devi, mother of Ramchandar Yadav, a migrant worker stranded in Gujarat’s Surat, said the chief minister seems to have no concern for the sons of the soil, who are struggling with hunger outside the state.”Nitish Kumar is doing nothing to bring back migrant workers. He has been behaving as if this is a normal time for him, even as we are . going through sleepless nights,” she said.

Lakhiya, a resident of Rampur village in Arwal district, told NewsClick is one among thousands of mothers of stranded migrant workers, who are upset over this uncertain situation since the lockdown was announced on March 24 midnight.

Bhola Manjhi, a middle aged landless farm laboure and a resident of Barachatti in Gaya district, whose two young sons, both migrants, are stranded in Mumbai. “Why should only the poor have to suffer during lockdown? The poor migrant workers were asked not to return to respect lockdown. If Nitish Kumar is like me, a father of two stranded migrant workers would he say that the government should not bring them back?” he said.

Bihar opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday demanded that the state government provide him permission to bring students back from Kota. ”If the Bihar government, which favoured special people, is helpless and not capable of bringing back students from Kota, give me special permission to bring back about 6,500 students”.

But ruling Janata Dal-United leaders began targeting the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader instead.

Interestingly, BJP leaders are more or less keeping silent over this issue of bringing back migrant workers.

Most Opposition parties, including the Left parties, have urged the state government not to neglect repeated requests made by migrant workers.

The Communist party of India (Marxist-Leninist) has demanded that the state government bring back stranded migrant. Party leaders also staged a fast for two days -- Saturday and Sunday -- across the state with maintaining social distancing, and demanding that the government bring back migrant workers.

Most of the migrant workers stranded outside the state belong to the marginalised communities, including dalits, Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes, considered the social support base of both Opposition RJD and rulingJD-U.

Following the lockdown, thousands of migrant workers and their families reached Bihar, many walking between 200-500 km, others cycling, some on motorcycles and rickshaws, with lot of them going without food and water.

After thousands of migrant workers arrived in the state, the state government issued instructions that all non-resident Biharis, including migrant workers and those visiting from foreign countries, have to stay in quarantine in government school buildings and any other government building in their respective villages for a few days.

Even though the state government has no official record, various estimates suggest that over one crore migrants from Bihar permanently work outside. In addition, there are thousands who work as seasonal migrants. While the majority of migrants from Bihar work in farms, factories, construction and infrastructure sites and do other such unskilled work, many are also skilled professionals.