Facing backlash from Gujaratis, thousands of migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are fleeing the state where they have come under attack from locals over the alleged rape of a 14-month-old girl by an outsider. According to a report in The Indian Express, the Hindi-speaking migrants who have lived in Gujarat for years and contributed in scripting the state’s growth story, are quitting jobs and leaving stability behind only to return to their native states.
The extent of the backlash is such that in a few cases, landlords had asked migrant residents to vacate their prmises and leave, an IE report said quoting migrants waiting with their families for a bus near Ahmedabad’s Chanakyapuri flyover.
Rajkumari Jatav (30), a native of Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh, said that on Thursday night a mob had attacked her three kids when they were playing in the lane outside her rented house in Mahadev Nagar, a colony of migrants in Chandlodiya area of Ahmedabad. Rajkumari’s husband was doing paint jobs to feed the family. She said that in last seven years, they never faced a situation like this but now they are going back.
“They (children) are still in shock. I took my four-year-old son to the doctor to calm him down that night,” she said, adding that others from the colony are also going back too due to fear.
Krishnachandra Sharma (42), who spent 22 years in Ahmedabad as a building construction contractor, said he never witnessed a situation like this earlier. “There have been Hindu-Muslim riots, but never something like this. The news spread like wildfire on Facebook and WhatsApp, which everyone has on their phones,” he told the daily.
Watch video: Migrants UP, Bihar, MP fleeing Gujarat
Dharmendra Kushwaha (20), who also hails from Bhind, said that a few masked men had threatened him to leave Gujarat otherwise he will be dead. According to Kushwaha, who worked as a labourer with painters in Ahmedabad, said that around 1,500 Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh migrants may have fled from Mahadev Nagar over the last few days. He said that two hundred people are left today.
Manju Singh (27), who does paint jobs in Gandhinagar, said that a mob had stopped his bike on Thursday evening and asked him about his native state. Singh who is originally from Madhya Pradesh told the mob that he is from Rajasthan and managed to escape. “When they probed further, I mumbled the name of a district. They let me go only after they had satisfied themselves I was not from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh or Bihar. Immediately after I left, they burnt a vehicle at that very spot,” Singh said minutes before he and others were leaving for their homes in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
Urmila Devi of Jalaun district in Uttar Pradesh, who lived in Kalol in Gandhinagar, said that some 50-60 people stormed the settlement of migrants and asked them to go back.
“They were shouting ‘sab bhaiyya log nikal jao nahin toh mar-peet karenge’. They set all the pani puri stalls in the lane outside our homes on fire. My son-in-law now has a fractured arm. Our landlords asked us to leave as soon as possible,” she said.
The IE report said that on Saturday, some 20 buses, each packed with more than 80 passengers, left for Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh on Saturday.
Pintoo Singh of Satyam Tomar Travels said that he is operating buses on these routes for several years. He said that usually, a bus with 25 passengers would leave once in two days, but the scenario has changed in the last few days as 20 buses of the travel agency are leaving daily on these routes.
“Now, I have to accommodate 80 or 90 people in each bus. And 20 such buses are leaving every day,” Singh said.
‘Festival rush’, says top cop
Meanwhile, DGP Shivanand Jha on Sunday sought to play down the exodus in the wake of violence that has gripped many of the districts. Jha said that people are going back due to the festival season and it should not be linked to the rape of the minor.
“…it is a season of festivals of Navratri, Diwali and Chhath, and therefore those going away should not be construed as fleeing. It is a request,” Jha told reporters in Gandhinagar.
The violence was triggered on September 28 in Sabarkantha district after a man from Bihar allegedly raped a 14-month-old girl. This prompted locals to target migrants especially from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Violence later spread to over five districts — Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Sabarkantha, Patan, and Mehsana after the news of rape was circulated. Several outsiders were beaten up by locals and threatened to go back. Police later cracked down on the attackers and arrested over 180 people.