Modi must set aside political differences and rise to the occasion by forming a national govt like Churchill did, which will pull together in a crisis
The media has repeatedly been showing heartbreaking videos/images of hundreds of thousands of out-of-work migrant labourers heading for their villages, hundreds of kilometres away. They have been braving the searing heat, hunger and thirst as they try to reach home under terrible conditions. While some were able to get on the trains meant to carry them back to their States, most were left to their own devices. Most decided to walk home and there have been cases of people dying out of sheer exhaustion and lack of nutrition on the way, as they were forced to stick to back roads, railway tracks and fields to avoid being caught and punished by policemen for violating the nationwide lockdown that has been on for the last 45 days now. The most recent tragedy to hit the migrants was the mowing down of 15 exhausted workers in Aurangabad, who had gone off to sleep on the railway tracks and got crushed by a goods train early in the morning. There is no doubt that the lockdown has caused a lot of hardship and suffering to these people and their families. But the more important question, which nobody asks, is this: What will these people do on getting home?
The workers had migrated to the cities in search of jobs as there were none available in their villages. The population has increased from about 40-45 crore in 1947 in undivided India to about 135 crore today, minus Pakistan and Bangladesh. This is a population increase of about four times! There is, therefore, too much of a burden on the cultivable land. Moreover, machinery has partially displaced farm labour. So, for both these reasons, people migrated to cities in large numbers after 1947 as they had no source of income in the villages. It is estimated that in 1947 a whopping 85 per cent of Indians were living in villages and only 15 per cent were in the cities. Today it is believed that only 60-65 per cent live in villages and 35-40 per cent are in the cities.
Now, to send crores of people who had migrated to the towns back to their villages raises the question of the lack of livelihood yet again. There is no work for them in their villages. They will only become a burden on their relatives and would hardly be welcome there. In the towns they were earning some money which they would send back to their wives and children living in the village. Now their wives would hardly be happy at their return as they would not earn for their families, rather they would need to be fed by someone.
One is reminded of John Steinbeck’s great novel Grapes of Wrath which is about migrants who fled to California from Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and some other US States after they lost their livelihood because of the dust storms and recession in the 1930s. They thought they would get jobs in California but found that they were unwelcome there as local workers thought they would depress wages and bring in diseases. Because of these factors the migrant workers faced great hostility from the locals. Steinbeck writes, “Ripe grapes spill their juices when pressed for wine. Similarly, the migrants were ripe with wrath and boiling with anger that was ready to spill forth. In their souls, the grapes of wrath were filling and growing heavy.” The same can be said of conditions in India today. Unless there is some drastic remedial measure by the Government, food riots and civil disorders may break out soon in many parts of the country.
This happened in France in 1789 because of the bread shortages in Paris and other cities, leading up to the French Revolution. Something similar happened in St Petersburg in Russia, when women demonstrated in February 1917 on International Women’s Day demanding bread, causing the February Revolution.
In my opinion the Prime Minister should now seriously consider forming a National Government, including leaders of the present Opposition parties and also some scientists, technical and administrative experts. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill had done this in May 1940 when faced with the looming danger of invasion by Nazi Germany. This National Government functioned from May 1940 to May 1945 when the World War-II ended. During this period there were no Opposition parties in the British Parliament, since the Opposition had joined the Government. Churchill, who was of the majority Conservative Party remained the Prime Minister, but Clement Atlee, the leader of the Opposition Labour Party, became the Deputy Prime Minister. There were others from the Labour Party too, who joined the Government.
In my opinion, with respect to Prime Minister Modi, the critical problems facing the country today are too big for him and his party to handle alone. The economy is sinking rapidly and the pandemic has greatly aggravated the situation. We are facing a danger of epic proportions. Food riots may break out anytime and law and order may collapse, leading to anarchy. So what is needed today is the combined effort of the whole nation. So, dear Prime Minister, please set aside political differences and rise to the occasion by forming a National Government which will pull together in a crisis. You will be hailed as a great statesman, like Churchill, if you do so.
(The writer is a former judge of the Supreme Court of India.)