The long journey home: viapolitics in the journey of migrant labourers during COVID-19 lockdown in India

Abstract

After the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 in 2020, India saw a mass departure of migrant labourers from urban to native rural areas on foot, by cycle or with available means of transportation due to unexpected unemployment and poverty. This paper attempts to analyse various instances of this incident from the documentary film 1232 KMs (2021) directed by Vinod Kapri. Analysing the film within the framework of viapolitics, this study looks at the mode of transportation used for migration, the routes, the geographical structure and possible challenges on migratory paths to analyse how they affect and influence the migrants and their migratory process. It focuses on the different experiences of migrants based on their mode of transportation as it generates different cultures of mobility and exposes the different affordances for governmental action like a nationwide shutdown. The study explores human struggles over boundaries, life, security, and death in such a migration, particularly considering the socio-economic conditions of the people involved. A viapolitical reading of migrant labourers’ displacement during lockdown thus becomes relevant in throwing light on how factors like vehicles, trajectories, geographical structure, etc., projected their politics during the pandemic.