Page 8 - SeniorsToday May20

Card (thank god, the person stopped
Out of jobs and evicted from rented accommodation, out-
of-state workers have no option but to pick up their lives
and leave
presentations on how they are working to
improve the life of these migrants. I doubt
if any of them have even seen the reality
of their poverty or even looked at them in
their face. What is bad, is that they will
pass all kinds of judgements on inane
issues but will never get to the core of the
problems faced by the migrants.
Where is the love and compassion
for the poor? Even after so many days
they are still dithering on providing
transportation through rails, roads and
such. Is this the superpower we call
ourselves? Again, on television we will
see yet another statistic on so many
millions that have been added to the
poverty numbers. The line of poverty
if u can see, it exists in our eyes and
that’s where we need to find it. What is
the meaning of democracy for the poor?
Actually nothing! People who are below
the poverty line are probably out of the
democratic process.
The binding factor
Poverty is also a great binding factor, in
recent times there has been a surge of
anti-Muslim rhetoric amidst this Covid-19
crisis. You see rich people coming out of
their kothis and asking the sabjiwallah
his name, wanting to see his Aadhar
8
there) to find out whether he is a Hindu
or a Muslim. While they were at it I wish
someone could have asked, what is the
religion of gaajar, matar, gobi, palak,
methi…? Do we know the religion of
water? Unfortunately, this anti-Muslim
rhetoric has moved up even to the top
and the middle class, where Hindus
and Muslims have problems with each
other but not so the poor. Go to the slums
in Mumbai - Kherwadi, Geeta Nagar,
Dharavi, Worli, Govandi… the Muslim
neighbour carpenter will often volunteer
to create the neighbour’s Ganapati pandal
and his wife would probably lend a
helping hand in rolling out the modaks.
Poverty is lack of cash and not lack of
character.
India’s international image has taken a
huge downgrade with the visuals of the
Lock, stock and shattered dreams, families leave for the
only place they can now call home
migrants walking home. The anti-Muslim
rhetoric has hurt the Hindus who are a
minority in the rest of the world. When
the government of UAE has to send a
representative on the inter-faith council
to the USA they send a Sikh, Surinder
Singh Kandhari, to represent us. There is
a lesson here for us.