Jaipur: A migrant worker in the Rahra village of Rajasthan has left people heart-wrenched over the note he wrote after stealing a cycle from a house. The atrocities being faced by all migrants in India during these difficult times can clearly be understood from the way this man stole the cycle but apologized for his action as he was helpless.
The incident happened in the Rahra village, Bharatpur district of Rajasthan where this man, Mohammed Iqbal, with his note has gone viral from Sahab Singh’s house on the night of May 11th to carry his special-abled child all the way to his home in Bareilly, UP. Twitter users quickly shared the incident over their handles and wrote about the way migrants are suffering each day.
In his note, Mohammed Iqbal wrote about his sincere necessity and misery due to which he had to steal the bike and also apologized profusely. The note read, ““Namaste ji, Main apki cycle lekar ja raha hu. Ho sakey toh mujhe maaf kar dena kyunki mere pass koi sadhan nahi hai aur ek bachcha hai uske liye mujhe aisa karna pada kyunki woh viklang hai, chal nahin sakta. Humein Bareilly tak jaana hai (Hello, I’m taking your bicycle. Please forgive me if you can as I had no other option and I have a child for whom I did this. He is specially-abled and cannot walk. We have to go to Bareilly).” The distance from Bharatpur to Bareilly is nearly 270 kms.
Singh found the note while sweeping the verandah the next day.
Talking about the plight of Iqbal and other such migrants, Hindustan Times reported Rajeev Gupta, a sociologist saying, “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 or their family member.” Gupta added that the owners and the contractors for whom these labourers worked didn’t treat them well.
“They were neither given food nor pending wages. That’s why people are forced to do things which may be legally wrong. Because of the ignorant attitude of the state, it is happening for the first time in the country that people are moving to villages from cities. Generally, people from villages migrate to big towns in search of employment and opportunities,” Gupta said.
After the nationwide lockdown started in March, migrant workers are the ones most hit by it. While others have a well-furnished and comfortable home to live in with all facilities and supplies, these migrants are being forced to walk barefoot to their villages after their landlords kicked them out and no money to be able to stay anywhere else. These workers are walking hundreds of kilometers with empty stomachs and young kids along with them. Some are even dying before reaching their respective villages due to starvation or accidents.
