By Jacob Peenikaparambil

Indore, May 17, 2020: The newspapers in Madhya Pradesh on May 17 published a moving picture of a migrant worker Yakoob calling for help from passersby while his friend Amrit lay on his lap.

Amrit and Yakoob were part of a group of migrant workers travelling from Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh in a truck. Both had lost job at a garment factory in Surat. As they were finding difficult to survive without job due to lockdown, they were desperately trying to go back to their native place, Basti in Uttar Pradesh.

They paid 4,000 rupees for standing space in the back of a truck bound for Indore. Unfortunately, Amrit fell sick during the journey and as result he was de-boarded from the truck near Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh. His friend, Yakoob was the only one from the group, who decided to stay behind him.

In the picture, Yakoob is seen calling for help from passersby as Amrit lies on his lap. But no one stopped. A local resident took a picture of the moving scene, but by the time it was widely circulated, the friend was dead. Although Amrit was taken to Shivpuri district hospital, he was already dead. According to the doctors, Amrit died due to severe heat led complications. Yakoob is undergoing quarantine in the same hospital.

Yakoob is one of the many extraordinary expressions of humanity and love during this coronavirus crisis. Many frontline workers have risked their lives for saving the pandemic infected patients and few of them died. Two doctors in Indore got infected while serving the coronavirus infected patients and died later. They did not consider the religion or caste of the patients whom they served.

Thousands of people mobilized food, drinking water and other resources to feed the poor and the migrant workers, besides volunteering their service for taking care of the people infected and affected by the pandemic. According to the Kerala chief minister, more than 200,000 people have registered to be volunteers in the southern Indian state.

For all of them, the only one concern is love for humanity. Personal religious faith might have motivated them to serve the needy without any consideration of religion.

Yakoob has shown to all Indians the essence of being an Indian.

When Draupadi Bai Verma of Indore died on April 8 because of coronavirus, none of her relatives, including her two sons and a sister, was ready to touch her body. Ten Muslim neighbors got together to buy things needed for her last rites, arranged a bier and carried her body to the cremation ground on their shoulders. They also performed the last rites according to the Hindu custom. “This is the purpose humanity, to serve each other,” said Abdul Rehman Sheikh, one of the local Muslim leaders.

Unity in diversity and respecting each other’s religion, focusing on humanity, has been the millennial heritage of India. Spreading prejudice and hatred against the followers of other religious faiths is not in tune with the original spirit of India that has always glorified ‘vasudhaiva kutumbakam’ (The whole universe is one family).

Due to the lockdown all religious gatherings have been put on hold for many days not only in India, but all over the world. Temples, churches, mosques and gurudwaras are closed. People all faiths are encouraged to perform their religious practices within the confines of their homes. Perhaps God wants people all faiths to see His presence in the suffering human beings and serve that God in different ways and thereby become more spiritual than religious.

It appears that some religious leaders are worried about the discontinuity of public worship and they want to resume it even when the pandemic, Covid-19, is spreading at faster rate. Almost all religions give top priority to seeing God in human beings and serving that God. Let the religious leaders remember the words of Jesus, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” Let them collaborate with the government and other civil society organizations to provide relief and succour to the people affected and infected by Covid 19. In the present situation that could be the best form of worship to God.

Azim Premji of Wipro, the biggest contributor to philanthropy in India, expressed his concern for humanity in an article written in ‘Economic Times’ on May 16. Referring to the death of 16 migrant workers mowed by a cargo train in Maharashtra in the last week, he said that it was ‘an unforgivable tragedy’. He also expressed his shock over some state governments suspending labor laws and he described it as a false choice. “Diluting these already lax laws will not boost economic activity, it will only exacerbate the conditions of the low wage earners and the poor,” he added.

The humanist in him made very concrete suggestions to the government to support the migrant workers and other poor sections of Indian society. For him, humanity is first, and then comes economy. His suggestions clearly indicate that economy is for human beings.
• Provide emergency cash relief of 7,000 rupees a month for every poor household for three months.
• Expand MNREGA by allocating additional 1,000 billion rupees along with increasing the number of guaranteed working days per household and increasing wages.
• Universalise and double the PDS ration for 3-6 months and distribute it free through doorstep delivery along with cooking oil, pulses, salt, masala, sanitary pads and soap in advance to all.
• Allow the stranded migrant workers to travel for free on buses or trains.
• Initiate urban Employment Guarantee Scheme similar to the MNREGA and ensure timely payment of wages.
• Increase public investment in agriculture for promoting sustainable faming initiatives, stronger procurement systems and value addition for perishable crops.

Human concern was also evident in the remarks of two judges of Madras High Court, Justice N kirubakaran and R Hemalatha, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation concerning the migrant laborers. “One cannot control their tears after seeing the pathetic condition of migrant labourers shown in the media for the last month. It is nothing but a human tragedy,” said the judges.

Coronavirus is disturbing and upsetting almost all aspects of human society. There is confusion among the political leaders and experts how to go about it. How to balance between livelihood and lives is debated by the economists and administrators. Against this backdrop, the example of Yakoob and clear articulation by Azim Premji show light to every section of society: give top priority to humanity.

(the writer is available at jacobpt48@gamil.com)