On December 21, 2023, a chartered flight from Dubai to Nicaragua, carrying 303 Indians (mostly from Gujarat), was grounded in France. Subsequent questioning revealed many holes in the story provided by the travellers and also the crew. Eventually most travellers, who had paid considerable amounts (ranging from US$48,000 to 150,000) for travel documents and fee exacted by dubious local agents, were sent back to India.
The incident was not one of a kind. And, according to The Guardian, the passengers were not being trafficked but had willingly paid to reach Nicaragua and then sneak into the US. The paper reports that in 2023 alone, almost 100,000 illegal Indian immigrants arrived at the US-Mexico border, a number ten times higher than what was recorded in 2019. What were they fleeing, and why, especially from relatively prosperous states like Punjab and Gujarat? The latter has been labeled time and again as a model state.
Even within the country, vast migrations occur throughout the year. The COVID-19 lockdown exposed the reality of millions of workers from economically disadvantaged areas such as Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand hills, Bengal, and the northeastern states migrating to Punjab, Gujarat, and the southern states for employment. As we have ‘progressed’ from an agrarian to a capitalist state, regional xenophobia and self-interest have increased, making the distinction between ‘ours’ and ‘strangers’ more pronounced.
Regional leaders contesting elections have weaponised it further. In Maharashtra, hostile comments have been made about ‘bhaiyas’ stealing jobs from the Marathi ‘manoos’, and in the east, several leaders have described groups suspected of illegally migrating from Bangladesh as ‘termites’, despite data showing a larger migration toward Bangladesh.
No one migrates without the promise of a better life. The high frequency of information and images of successful NRI communities all over the globe and OTT films beamed unstoppably on the Net have carried the legend of the liberal democracies in Europe and the US to the very last village in the country. To the young starved for jobs, it seems that streets there are paved with gold. Even a child in the developed world can see advertising as a hollow sign, but in the Indian subcontinent, it has captured young minds. Google has acquired a holy glow as an infallible source of all information, akin to the Shastras and almanacs interpreted by temple priests in the past.
The parable of the aborted flight to Nicaragua with its 303 hapless wannabes is no different from the stories of hordes of Latino immigrants braving bullets to cross the magic fence between their world and the US. It has come to a point that those that risk life and money to get a seat somehow, are not interested in verification of the credentials of the company or agents ferrying them across. In addition, migrants are fleeing many war-torn Afro-Asian countries, and numbers are mind boggling. According to the figures released by the State department of the US, in 2019, there were 19,883 interceptions of what it terms as “excludable aliens”. By now India is reported to be the third largest source of illegal migrants. And that is not all. According to the UK Home Office figures, India has become the second largest source of illegal migrants in England.
With two debilitating wars being waged in Ukraine and Gaza, in addition to various minor conflicts in parts of Africa and Asia, empathy and compassion are rapidly depleting in the West. First, it was the Serbo-Croatian war, and now it is Palestine, where communities are shamelessly deemed ‘superfluous’ by a significant number of dominant and armed groups.
Back home we have grown callouses about stories of homes and places of worship being bulldozed, selling of meat on certain days and of roadside carts selling popular non-vegetarian snacks being declared illegal.
Nationalism based on clans and tribes have existed since Treta Yug when Ram Rajya was coined to denote all round prosperity and progress of a nation. But, in 2024, countries that want to prove their credentials as rich progressive and liberal democracies seem to feel the need for institutions and numerous legal means for closing its boundaries to immigrants. So, historical legends are being crafted along ancient ethnic grudges and symbolic religio ethnic structures being raised as symbols of a restored pride. Most such spectacles and public orations are rooted in one man-led empires posing as democracies. The models are all drawn from a feudal past with little proof. The Ramrajya of Ayodhya’s Ram, the Magadh-Kosal-Kalinga of Ashoka, the vast Chola empire of Rajraj, the Punjab of Ranjit Singh are several such visions. Are we then ultimately going back to where we emerged from in the last two centuries?
Migrations today may be due to poverty and natural calamities but they are more of a demographic bulimia eroding overpopulated lands. Once upon a time, there was great anxiety about ‘brain drain’. One scarcely hears the word today. Those who are poor and less skilled can leave, thank you very much. Just turn off the lights as you leave! The affluent have no problem with the graduates leaving the country. Capital has torn down many erstwhile barriers to its flow. At the top of the new global work pyramid, Indian corporate or representatives of mega global companies now stride the seas at will and work across continents with a smaller, highly skilled contractual staff. They actually are thriving on global mobilisation of the best brains headquartered happily in the US and Europe. While the owners sit comfortably cushioned in some meditation camp in Bali or Nepal, or share gourmet meals with other capitalists in global capitals, they can safely urge the young down below to work 70 to 80 hours each week if they wish to go places.
You may ask, what about the ‘Swarn Mriga’ of the ‘demographic dividend’? Well, at the bottom of the pyramid mercantilism is still keeping it alive. On slave wages. Black markets, those great equalisers of pressures between demand and supply flourish on physical border restrictions. So, with ethnic cleansing and the white young demanding more fun and less stress with shorter work hours and choice to work from home, the illegal trafficking of human beings will be thriving.
Locally, the superfluous workforce in Bihar may find opportunities in harvesting in Punjab, polishing diamonds in Surat, and running dairies in Maharashtra. Abroad, they could be employed in harvesting orchards, vineyards, and selling affordable souvenirs made in China, as well as serving hotdogs and ice-cream to the hordes of tourists flooding the fast-aging Europe. Consequently, authorities will frequently ignore the dark hands cleaning their streets, removing their trash, and attending to the elderly with adult diapers.
And as the developed world felicitates young and brilliant IT nerds from India, the star Chinese architects, or some African Nobel laureate in spectacular events online, no one will point out that for the Big Businesses, passport is no problem; no one questions the colour of the Saudi princes’ skin either. The Epsteins and their privileged clients in this world recognise no racial or national barriers. While everything in their world is wrapped in an apathetic silence, the poor remain “excludable aliens”.
Perhaps those sent back will make another try and make it to the holy land of milk and honey. But one doesn’t know in which direction or which country.
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