With no means of transport or money, a migrant worker in the Indian state of Rajasthan ended up stealing a bicycle to pedal his way over 250 kms with his differently-abled son, to reach his home in Uttar Pradesh. He left an apology note behind for the owner, which has gone viral on Twitter in India.
According to news website hindustantimes.com: “Mohammad Iqbal stole the cycle from the Rarah village in the Bharatpur district, from the house of Sahab Singh, late on Monday night. Singh found the letter while sweeping the veranda of his house.”
Apparently, he decided to drop the idea of registering a complaint after he saw the letter.
The viral letter written in Hindi read: “I am a labourer and also helpless. I’m taking your bicycle. Please forgive me. I have no other means to reach, and I have a differently-abled child. I have to go to Bareilly.”
Sympathising with the poor father’s situation, people in India are discussing how, lack of jobs, money and food is pushing migrant workers to take such steps.
Tweep @pravisah posted: “This made me cry.”
Pointing out that it was the leaders of the country who should be apologising for the situation and not the poor workers, tweep GutsyThala posted: “… the conscience shown by poor of this country is not shown by its rulers.”
According to the report Rajeev Gupta, an Indian sociologist, said: “The incident reflects the helplessness of the labourers and the failure of the governments. Before imposing the lockdown, the government should have arranged transport facilities for them so that they could have reached their native places. But it didn’t happen. Many labourers are hungry for months. They cannot feed themselves nor their family members.”
Death by hunger
Meanwhile, Indian journalist @alok_pandey tweeted about a migrant worker who boarded a truck to head home. As he reached the state of UP and started walking, he collapsed and died. Reportedly, he and the other workers on the truck, had not eaten for 48 hours.
Pandey tweeted: “Vinod, a migrant worker from UP’s Hardoi, boarded a truck in Maharashtra. This morning, he and his relatives got off in Kannauj and started walking home. A kilometer on, he simply collapsed and died. Government says prima facie it seems they had not eaten proper food in 48 hrs....”
Journalists and concerned Indians are taking to social media channels to highlight the condition of these internal migrants workers. Millions of them have no jobs and no government relief has reached them.
@Indian_bot: “I was worried India's healthcare system will collapse when covid-19 hits India and ppl will not have doctors and hospital to take care… But this scale of humanitarian crisis I didn't even imagine.”
Many questioned India’s lawmakers who have tried to deny the crisis.
Tweep @ranchisparrow posted: “And Piyush Goyal says India has not starved!”
Tweep @poojadesaid, questioned the country’s Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman: “Please. What have you done for ‘our migrants’? Your government (Bharatiya Janata Party) argued in the Supreme Court that no one was out walking on the roads. Your commerce minister (also the railways minister) said no one has starved in India. Neither you, nor your government care about them. Stop posturing.”
As India’s COVID-19 cases continue to grow, the country has extended its lockdown till May 31.
