Industry hit in Kerala as workers from West Bengal, Assam leave for voting
The Hindu
Labourers from West Bengal, Assam have gone home to exercise their franchise
Kabir Ahmad (name changed), a migrant worker in Perumbavoor, had to spend a small fortune on a flight ticket to return home to Hojai district of Assam last month following his parents’ anguished plea to get back in time for voting. Their desperation was borne out of the perceived danger posed to the community by the National Register of Citizens (NRC) proposed by the Union government and the cost that each wasted vote may entail in the fight to keep the legislation at bay. Though not fully convinced of their anxiety, Kabir, who has been in Kerala for over a decade and speaks fluent Malayalam, did vote in the election held on April 1. The State elections to the Assemblies of West Bengal and Assam seem to have assumed unprecedented significance among the sizeable migrant communities from these two States in the wake of the NRC and its potential implications, leading to their mass exodus back home despite having returned here after considerable struggle in search of jobs following the COVID-19-induced lockdown. Plywood, construction, and hospitality industries in the State have been seriously hit following their exit. “The production in plywood industry dropped by about 40%. The migrants from the religious minority community fear that if they do not turn up to vote, the local politicians may abandon them,” says Mujeeb Rahman, State president, All Kerala Plywood and Block Board Manufacturers Association.More Related News
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