Migrant Labourers’ COVID-19 Lockdown Experience: Emerging Trajectory of Political Expression

Abstract

The COVID-19 lockdown in India presents a scenario where state action sharply exposed the everyday structural realities1 and vulnerabilities2 of the country’s migrant labourers to the public eye. The disproportionate impact of the lockdown on migrant labourers – struggling to sail through the storm of the pandemic after they were rendered jobless and left with nothing to survive on – stood against the dominant public narrative of ‘we are in it together’.3 Amidst the lockdown, migrant labourers were seen mainly either as victims or violators 4 in the popular narrative of the media. The paper goes beyond this narrative to throw light upon migrant labourers as a political subject by reflecting on their experience during the lockdown. The paper contributes to the scholarly debates on the vocabulary of political action employed by migrant workers by reflecting on their experience of the COVID-19 lockdown in cities. It draws from the narratives of migrant labourers, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, working as self-employed or on daily wages in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Surat, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, etc. It uses quotes, worker testimonials, audio recordings, surveys, etc., which reflect on their experience of different phases of the lockdown.