On Tuesday he had announced the cancellation of the trains scheduled to take the construction labourers to their native places at the suggestion of the builders and real estate owners. They had expressed their views of construction work coming to a halt due to the reverse migration.

Yediyurappa was so obsessed with the welfare and prosperity of his rich friends that he instantly rescinded his earlier decision to stop the labour exodus. While fast tracking his decision he had not imagined that it would boomerang on his face and would witness a chain of mass protest.

While a section of labourers, without jobs for long, started returning on foot to their native places a large number of them from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal created a ruckus in the city and resorted to protest demanding that they be sent home. Realising that situation was going out of his hand, he had no option but to make a U-turn and arrange for the trains to send back stranded migrant workers to their natives and sought approval of receiving states for the process.

The state government has however been collecting fares from workers. Besides the regular fare the ticket rate of the Shramik Special train includes the superfast charges of Rs 30 and an additional charge of Rs 20.

The decision of Yediyurappa to cancel trains has not come as a surprise. He has been the public face of the capitalist economy. His proximity to the gold mine owners and other capitalists has been an open secret. With his pronounced anti-poor and dalit stand, it would be an act of sheer naïveté to expect a fair deal for them from the BJP leadership.

Coronavirus has shredded the myth of BJP being a liberal and Democratic Party. This action of Yediyurappa nevertheless should also serve as an eye opener for the people who still nurse the view of him being the saviour of the common people. Had he been really concerned of the miseries of the poor people, he would not have acted in this manner. His functioning manifests his feudal political upbringing and orientation.

Yediyurappa known as the personification of corruption is known for rendering services to the capitalist, rich and feudal lords. It is not that his antics are not known to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. Even after being aware of his mind set and priorities, these two leaders rehabilitated him and installed him as the chief minister. This obviously implied that his being buddy of rich and feudal lords weighed in his favour. He simply complied to the class interest of his mentors.

Meanwhile a coalition of over 500 organisations, workers unions and activists in an open letter to Yediyurappa, severely criticised his action. They had also charged him “This move of cancellation of trains violates the right to movement under Article 19(1)(d). By infringing on the basic freedom to make fundamental choices about their lives, it violates the right to dignity under Article 21. By cancelling trains and ensuring workers continue to labour in Karnataka, it violates the constitutional prohibition on forced labour under Article 23”.

Nevertheless they ought to have realised that these have no relevance for him. Had he been really conscientious person he must not have volunteered to help the builders and capitalists. For him their interest was supreme than saving the lives of lakhs of the poor people. The remarks of the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Siddaramaiah; “the argument of Yediyurappa that construction will not happen if migrants return exposes his mindset” is absolutely correct. He is willing to sacrifice the lives of hapless labourers for the sake of invisible hands. It would not be inappropriate to charge Yediyurappa for promoting and practising bonded labour.

The most preposterous stand that Yediyurapp resorted to justify his action was to claim that the Covid-19 situation in the state was under control. He did not see as a potential threat to the labourers’ lives. Though the Union government has issued a circular saying that barring the red zones, business, construction work and industrial activities can be resumed. But it did not lay down any guideline that in such situation the travel of the migrant workers should be described as unnecessary and be controlled.

What has been the most shameful is while the builders were against their leaving Karnataka but during the last 50 days of lockdown no builder or even Yediyurappa ever bothered to arrange for their stay and food. Now after little cessation in the lockdown guidelines they have become concerned. The reason is now they are planning to resume their activities.

Claretian Father George Kannanthanam is right in saying; “State’s action to hold them back is an act of modern slavery, and I have not seen any contractor feeding them all these days. The train cancellation is a clear act of violation of one’s human rights and dignity”. The fact of the matter is Yediyurappa and his cohorts are trampling the dignity of the ill-fated labourers.

The civil rights activists and environmentalists across the country allege that since March 24 most builders and contractors have completely abandoned the workers “leaving them to scrounge for food and money in violation of government orders.” It was on March 24 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day nationwide lockdown from midnight.

Undoubtedly this is most atrocious crime a state government could perpetrate on the poor and the daily wage labourers.

The shamelessness of the rulers was on public display with Yediyurappa and his party MP Tejasvi claiming; “It would be a win-win situation for both workers and builders”. The entire episode makes it abundantly clear that the poor are only meant to serve the rich. What happened in Karnataka is the manifestation of capitalism, which has been using the state power on workers to reduce them to rank of slaves. It is worth mentioning that barely a fortnight back the rightist and communal forces aided by the media had stigmatised these poor as 'Corona Bombs'.

In yet another major development the BJP government has undertaken the move to tweak the labour laws to facilitate the movement of multinational firms from China to India. The situation has reached to such a stage that even Saji Narayanan, national president of BMS, affiliated to the RSS, was forced to remark; “If the government is allowing the states to amend the labour laws, which include extension of working hours, it would result in a situation worse than coronavirus pandemic. So we have asked the labour minister to write to all the states to ask them to desist from such a move”.

A couple of days back the BMS had told the Union labour minister that the migrant labourers should not be forced to stay back in their respective states of work in order to make industrial units and business units function, and if the migrants are staying back, there should be adequate incentives by the host states. “If the states want the workers to come back, the workers should be provided incentives such as free train tickets and electronic passes.” Narayanan held that changing labour laws would not turn India into a favourite destination for investors. “India can never be China. Some firms have already moved to Vietnam, which has an atmosphere similar to China,” he said. (IPA Service)