Cooch Behar (West Bengal): While the plight of migrant workers in lockdown is still afresh in people's mind, the Sitalkuchi violence has brought back the horrific memories of migrants to life.
When the migrant workers died walking several hundred kilometres, starving, the Centre and the state governments were busy playing the blame game. On Saturday, when migrant workers, among others, died in poll-related violence, the governments continue to trade barbs at each other.
Of the four people killed in the firing on Saturday, two were migrant labourers. They returned to their village primarily to exercise their vote. Little did they know that their walk to the poll booth would be their last.
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Nur Alam, 20, used to work in Bengaluru. He travelled back home to cast his vote. He was supposed to go back to the country's IT capital soon.
Another migrant worker Samiul worked in Gangtok. He had returned home just a day before the poll.
Migrant workers began to gain importance in vote-politics since the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal. Back then, several migrants returned to the state and brought in a change. With the backing of the migrants, Mamata Banerjee's path to power got smoother. As time passed by, her promise for migrants increased. However, in reality, nothing much has changed.
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Post lockdown, Mamata assured to make adequate arrangements for migrant workers so that they no longer have to go to other states for survival. However, it only remained an assurance in the media.
This time, too, almost every political party, provided it comes to power, assured jobs to these labourers. However, two labourers, who came back home with the hope that their long-pending dream would be realised, were killed. With this, the question that pops up is, 'Are the migrant workers just another vote bank?'
