NOTA is not the Answer

Thousands of migrant labourers have been walking hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes from their workplaces for two months now in India. Outlook reports that the labourers have decided to vote NOTA [None of the Above] in the next election.

No, dear friends, NOTA is not a wise option. NOTA is nobody. Even if that option gets the maximum votes, you will still get some real vampire as your MLA or MP according to the rules. The one who gets the highest votes after NOTA will get to suck your blood.

You have another option, a wise and practical option. I will tell you in a moment.

Why did you become migrant labourers in the first place? Think for a moment. One of your vampires has now declared that the states should get his permission to hire workers hereafter. “If any state wants manpower, the state government will have to guarantee social security and insurance of the workers. Without our permission they will not be able to take our people…because of the way they were treated in some states,” he said. What a cruel joke!

I live in a state (Kerala) which provided all necessary things from food to accommodation to its migrant labourers who number to a whopping 35 lakh. This small state of Kerala treated its migrant labourers just like its own citizens. The state doesn’t even call them migrant labourers; ‘guest workers’ is the name given to them. And they are treated with that dignity too.

Yet some of them wanted to leave. Understandable. They had no work to do and they understandably wanted to be with their family members. But it consoles me as a Keralite to know that there was no mass exodus from my state. The state government arranged trains when the Centre nodded permission. Until then the “guest workers” were looked after with dignity. Just check which party was ruling the states from where migrants had to walk endless distances.

What did the Yogi who now wants states to seek his permission to hire workers do for these workers at any time? He had all the labourers who returned home sprayed with disinfectants. He treated you like shit. And now he pretends that he cares.

I asked the question ‘Why did you become migrant labourers in the first place?’ and then digressed. Let’s return to the question. Wouldn’t you have liked to work in your own places? Why would you travel such long distances, to alien lands where the language and culture are all different, if you could find means of livelihood in your own hometowns? Why were you deprived of the very right to earn your livelihood?

Ask yourselves, brethren. It is not enough to be called bhaiyo aur behno. Realise that. Realise that you were being exploited with sweet talks and religious sentiments. They gave you a gigantic statue when you asked for food. You were brainwashed to feel proud of some putative unity that the statue was to symbolise when you were actually being vivisected into mutually hating groups ready to slash each other’s throats. Hatred is one of the most powerful political tools and you were given that tool very cunningly. Subliminally.

You were promised more temples and statues for your gods. If they actually worked on their promises, you would have got work at least. You wouldn’t have been migrants at all. Instead they ended up tickling your nationalist ribs by renaming places which had Muslim names. What difference did it make to you when Allahabad became Prayagraj?

Your veins must have surged with nationalist pride. Did you feel a sense of conquest over the ossified Mughals when Mughal Sarai turned into Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Nagar? Writing down that new name on an application form will call for some effort if anything. Patriotism has its pertinent burdens too.

Hollow promises and contagious hatred are part of those burdens. What more did they give you? Disinfectant sprays on your return home?

Do not ever forget the blisters you gathered on your bare feet while walking hundreds of kilometres on scorching tarmac. Do not let them romanticise those blisters at least. Never forget: romantic sentiments, whether in the name of your nation or religion, are only political ploys of people who possess no imagination for creating a nation of healthy minds and bodies.

NOTA won’t get rid of those vampires. So what should you do?

You find leaders among yourselves. Contest the polls. Take charge of your destiny. Remember that a cry in the wilderness can set a whole avalanche in motion. We can have a much better country than this. Far better. Think of that.