‘Allah aeysee Eid phir Kabhi na ho’

Allaha yeh kaisi pheeki Eid aayee! (Oh, God, what an insipid Eid this year). There is no festivity in this festival this time round. No visits to mosques, no celebrations either. No relatives or friends visiting home to greet. No evening Eid parties at all. Sweiyan don’t taste as sweet as they used to on every Eid occasion. Even kebabs and biryani have lost their aroma.

Muslims do not celebrate Eid only when someone among close relatives die. There are deaths this year--- a bit too many, in fact. Lakhs are losing life falling victim to COVID-19 pandemic across the world. Thousands have died so far in India, too. So, how can one have Eid celebrations this year! We are in a midst of a tragedy of epic proportion. There cannot be any festivity amidst a tragedy.

As far as India is concerned, we are witnessing sort of double tragedy. There are deaths due to coronavirus pandemic. But dozens of people are dying here due to exhaustion or in accidents after walking hundred s of miles on streets. Could you imagine millions migrating in this 21st century to avoid death from hunger. Have you ever thought of a pregnant woman delivering a baby on roadside after walking two hundred kilo meters and resuming her march again with the new born baby in arms few hours after she delivered. People fell asleep with exhaustion on railway tracks and a train passed over them leaving them asleep once for all.

You must have seen too many such tragic videos by now. We have read such tragic stories of migration in Manto’s stories. But those were different times. Britishers have just left India partitioning the country into India and Pakistan. The sub-continent was burning with communal frenzy. There was madness all around. Jawahar Lal Nehru’s first government of independent India was still in its infancy. Yet camps were put up for migrants coming from Pakistan. The then government was doing arrangements to feed and lodge the millions who were fleeing from across the border.

Twenty first century India is a different story all together. We are the fifth largest economy of the world. We have a strong leader like Narender Modi as the prime minister of the country. If the government wish, it could send these marching millions back to their homes in no time. The government owns all means of modern transport to send these poor workers back home. But the Modi government has no interest in the poor at all. Imagine, the government started shramik trains for the workers leaving big towns, especially for the migrants. But the railways were charging them Rs. 50 extra over the far to provide food during the journey. Only a heartless government like Modi’s could have thought of charging any fare from the fleeing workers. This government even hiked the fare in times of workers crisis. Guess, how much in contempt Modi government holds the poor. It reflects from the Prime Minister national address when he proudly announced a package of 20 lakh crore to kickstart economy. But he refused to utter even a word of sympathy for those walking on streets. Finance Minister Nirmla Sitharaman grudgingly announced some amount of money for the poor through the MANREGA scheme. How many of these marching workers will survive to take advantage of this scheme only time will tell. But the bitter reality is that so far there is not a penny for the poor with this anti-poor government.

History will never forget this government’s anti-poor attitude in their times of utter helplessness. Narendra Modi will surely be counted as one of the cruel leaders of modern times. After all. Modi belongs to the RSS that believes in caste hierarchy which treats the poor Dalits and the backwards as sub-humans. Even the RSS is not seen anywhere around to help the poor marching millions. Its millions of swaem seveks cannot be seen helping migrants anywhere around. Another RSS parcharak and UP chief minister Aditya Nath Yogi has established new records in the ‘service’ of the poor walking on the streets. You may be aware how the UP government denied permission to buses that the Congress Party organised to ferry the workers back home. Can the BJP still be counted as a party that cares for the people at al!!

Well, the cruel fact is that no political or social organisation except for the Congress Party stood up for the poor in their most tragic times. Sonia Gandhi wrote to the Prime Minister to help the poor in times of heir crisis. Rahul Gandhi demanded immediate cash transfer into the poor men’s bank accounts. Priyanka Gandhi organised food supplies to the poor through the party network. But the deafening silence of those political leaders who swear by ‘social justice’ surprised many who expected leaders like Mayawati, Mulayam Singh, Akhilesh Yadav and Nitish Kumar to stand up for their constituency of the poor in their hard times. After all, Dalits and the backwards are their core vote bank. Amazingly enough they had not a word of sympathy to utter for millions of Dalits and the backward marching on the streets. When principle like social justice becomes hollow slogan to corner votes and grab power, leaders like Maya-Mulayam too stand exposed as anti-poor.

Indeed, we are living in tragic times when tragedies of Manto’s stories are being witnessed on streets in times of another migration. How can one think of celebrating Eid amidst such tragic times! My only prayer this Eid: Allah, aeysee Eid pihr kabhi na ho (God we may never have such an Eid yet again).