Leaving TN seeing scary clips on our phones, say migrants

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu, home to thousands of migrant workers, usually sees a home-bound exit every festival season. But this time it’s of a different magnitude with uncertainty over their return, thanks to fake social media claims and WhatsApp forwards.

Even as the Tamil Nadu government is going all out to assuage the fears about their safety, these unconfirmed claims of violence continue to make rounds on various platforms making it difficult for the authorities to pacify the scared guest workers.

“We are going back because of the news of dange (riots) against north Indian workers here. We feel scared for our life,” said Mahant, a migrant worker from West Bengal, as he waits to board a train at Central on Tuesday.

He shows a series of videos and news clippings of various incidents of violence and said he received them over WhatsApp and Facebook with the forwarded message claiming them to be of attacks on north Indian migrant workers. He along with a group of about 8-10 other workers have these videos on their phones and they admit they are unaware if these incidents are true or not.

“Though there is no threat to us at our workplace and no one has said anything wrong to us, we are scared if something goes wrong. We’ve received the support of our employers and residents during our stay here for over 2-3 years, but now our families are scared. They want us back,” said Mahant.

For many like Mahant, what was supposed to be a holiday trip on the occasion of Holi, has turned out to be a panic departure.

“I have been working here for about 15 years now. This is where I earn my livelihood. To date, no one has troubled me at work but the videos of attacks on people are being circulated over WhatsApp and we are told it’s the north Indian workers being attacked by locals. We do not know what is true and what is not. However, this has created a sense of fear among us. Personally, I did not feel any discomfort at work or at my place of stay, where my neighbours are all locals,” said Phoolchand, a guest worker who works at an eatery in the city.

Some workers even fear discussing about going back

While the Tamil Nadu government and Chennai police have been working to clear the air around fake WhatsApp forwards with assurances of their safety, the crowd of migrant workers outside the Central station even for two days (as the direct trains are only on specific days of the week) speak a different story. Some of them even fear discussing the issue.

Jayanti, a migrant worker from Gaya district in Bihar said they are aware of incidents of violence through these videos only, but have not faced any such instances. However, they want to go back. She was interrupted by another companion who said there is nothing bad happening and they are leaving only to celebrate Holi, only to change it soon saying they are leaving to attend some weddings at home next month.

Nayanmati, also a migrant worker from UP, said she is in Chennai for more than eight years now and has never experienced any problems. She added that local people helped her understand Tamil and even the names of daily use materials. “When I was new here, I was not sure if I will be able to survive here. But all those whom I met here all these years made it easy for me to work here,” said Nayanmati.

“Recently, we hear a lot of rumours that we will be sent back if we do not have any local ID proof or our Aadhaar is not in the local address. We do not know if it is true or not, but we feel very scared for our children. We don’t have the money to take a flight to UP and we have to plan our holidays three months ahead to get a confirmed train ticket. If something happens, where will we get the money to go home in an emergency,” she asked.

Many of those DT Next spoke to pointed out that they are unable to access any government order or official news since they are not educated enough to understand English and have limited knowledge of Tamil.