Anatomy of an exodus

Leaders across party lines cashed in on the crisis to gain political brownie points

The timing couldn’t have been more ironic. As India celebrated her 66th year of Independence from the British rule, the day meant to foster and cherish freedom instead saw fear break out amongst some of our citizens.

Thousands of North-East people rushed to the Bangalore City Railway Station to escape what they believed was an unsafe, threatening environment prevailing in Bangalore and around Karnataka as well.

The last few days have remained tense for them. Although there were no reported incidents of violence, a large number of people from the North-East decided to pay heed to text messages warning them of impending attacks. On Wednesday night, they thronged railway platforms to return to their respective home states. The Railways was overburdened by a windfall demand for tickets to Guwahati and beyond. Two extra trains were hurriedly organised.

Apprehensions over the personal safety of N-E people didn’t appear to be entirely unfounded. Stray instances of violence and abuse on ethnic lines were fleetingly reported in the local papers. Tense interactions between N-E groups and law and order authorities hadn’t made the situation any better.

The stabbing of a Tibetan youth near Mysore and the recent attack on young men and women at a Mangalore homestay by a fringe group, combined with the apathy of the administration over the episode, seemed to have contributed to the fear in the minds of those who chose to leave.

Earlier attacks have only eroded the confidence of people in the ability of the administration to be able to handle a potentially volatile scenario.
 One North-Easterner explained why the rest were leaving: “We know how things are being dealt with here. We are not blaming anybody, but we are not rushing back for unwarranted reasons. After reading about the Mangalore attacks and how the victims are being held responsible for it, along with other such incidents in the State, how can one say our safety is guaranteed?” asked A T Chankiri who came from Nagaland to pursue his studies and stayed to work.

Minister’s advice cuts no ice

Lalrokhuma Pachuau, the Director General and Inspector General of Police, despite being from Mizoram was not able to truly connect with North-Eastern people and convince them that Karnataka and Bangalore were safe for them. Home Minister R Ashoka’s advice to industries and mall owners to have “...Locals (read Kannadigas) mingle with the North-East employees, eat with them and so on,” did not have the desired effect.

The police have not been able to find anything concrete on how the threat of violence spread among people. This seems to have only given more reason for apprehensions among the North-East people. They are increasingly concerned for their safety. The fallout has embarrassed the State government on a national level.

On day one, the government claimed there were no incidents reported and no person from the North-East was attacked or injured. It sent out several faces, including Minister Ashoka, to persuade those leaving to stay back. But little was achieved.

By end of Thursday (day two), there were three formal complaints registered with the Ashoknagar Police - two cases of assault and one case of a threat. And by Friday, eight suspects were arrested and a few more cases were registered around town. People continued to leave.

Suddenly the threats didn’t seem like random rumours. However, authorities struggled to connect the detained suspects with any messages that had spread panic. In some cases, it almost appeared as if arrests were made to bolster the government’s image and send a message of re-assurance.

Golan Naulak, a political science lecturer at St Joseph’s College of Arts and Science, who is also from the North-East, said: “The first day, I told a lot of my students not to jump the gun. But I cannot hold them back. At least not until I can really assure them of their safety.” He said this about an hour after meeting Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday, indicating that he was not confident of the State being able to protect citizens from possible communal or ethnic clashes.

Politicking didn’t help

However, the real blow to restoring faith in the administration appears to have come from leaders and authorities using the situation to gain policial mileage. Political parties on all sides jumped in to cash in on the already fragile mindsets of departing people. Passengers waiting at the railway station were subject to a politicking circus with each side trying to outdo the other in making assurances that were having the opposite effect and convincing people that they should leave instead of staying back.

They did not appreciate student wings of political parties converging on the already crowded platforms. They did not like rakhis being tied to their wrists by organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

“All we want is the government to give us real assurance, not just words,” said a student from Mizoram. This was after leaders from the North-East community met the top police officials on Thursday. The police and the State maintained that there was no reason for fear. But the people continued to leave. Fortunately, by Saturday, the flow of N-E people out of Bangalore had almost stopped. Many have stayed back, but it is only for now. Most of the people who left were either students or were in blue collar jobs.
Their sudden exit has hit Bangalore’s economy, primarily in the hospitality and security services.

According to estimates by the Karnataka Security Services Association, there are about 75,000-1,00,000 N-E employees working with registered security agencies. Many more work independently and with smaller agencies. Thousands more work in hospitality, especially in the best hotels. There are beauty parlours, shopping malls and apparel showrooms that will be affected if the exodus continues, according to Banglore’s business community. Bangaloreans, like the authorities, are still trying to understand what caused it all. “I do not know why they are feeling threatened. We have employed so many of them. There has never been a problem before,” said the cashier at a popular restaurant chain on Residency Road.

Hopefully, local authorities and the State government will do some introspection on what went wrong. Hopefully, Bangalore will slowly manage to regain its reputation as a great place to live and work.