Don't care for job: House helps, workers rush to Bengal to vote amid citizenship scare

"Our train tickets most likely won't get confirmed. There's a huge wait list. But I know one thing, we are leaving tomorrow. I don't care even if I lose my job," says Podda, a house help based in East Delhi's Dallupura. She is adamant that she, along with eight members of her family, will be leaving on Thursday for their village in Dakshin Dinajpur district to vote in the West Bengal Assembly elections. She says that there are hundreds like her who are rushing back to their native villages in Bengal to vote because they are scared they might lose their citizenship if they don't.

Vidhan Sabha elections in West Bengal are scheduled to be held in two phases, — April 23 and April 29. With the first phase just a week away, there is a scramble among migrant workers, including house helps, nannies, cooks and blue-collared labourers, to reach Bengal from metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru and several industrial clusters.

"Where I stay in Delhi, there are many migrants like us, who are going back home. They fear, if they don't vote this time, their names will be struck off, and they will lose access to schemes. Some even fear losing their citizenship," Podda tells India Today Digital.

Like Podda in Delhi, there's Murshida Khaton in Bengaluru. The Asansol native, who works as a nanny, is also going back to West Bengal to vote, says her employer, Aakansha, a Bengaluru-based techie.

"She was blunt about her reasons for going back to vote. She feared, if she didn't vote this time, she might never get the chance again," Aakansha tells India Today Digital. "She feared that she could be marked and deported to Bangladesh, if she didn't vote."

Like domestic helps and nannies, several blue-collared workers across India's metro cities and industrial hubs are rushing to West Bengal to vote, come what may.

While some Bengali migrants have clubbed their annual trips home with the poll schedule, others are particularly rushing back to keep their names on the rolls and avoid losing their citizenship. While these fears of their names getting struck off and losing their citizenships is unfounded, they think it is their chance to avoid eventualities.

Some workers from Mumbai's gold and diamond retail hub, Zaveri Bazaar, who aren't able to get confirmed train tickets, are arranging buses to go back to West Bengal, a distance of around 1,900-2,300 kilometres.

These anecdotal cases of blue-collared workers and those employed in the unorganised sector have intensified following the SIR exercise, which was conducted to sanitise the voting rolls. Some workers we spoke to said that the effort and struggle it took to get their names onto the voter list now makes voting an opportunity to secure it further.

HOW POLITICAL MESSAGING IN BENGAL HAS FUELLED FEARS OVER CITIZENSHIP

Trinamool chief and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while asking people to vote for her party, has amplified the fear that voting rights and citizenship could be at risk.

"The EC, BJP and the Centre are not following the Constitution. They are trying to snatch away voting rights," Banerjee said at a rally in Maynaguri of Jalpaiguri district in March, referring to the SIR exercise and the deletion of voters.

"Today, they are snatching away voting rights; tomorrow, they will snatch away citizenship by bringing the NRC," she added.

In the run-up to the West Bengal Assembly elections, the issue of alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators and "outsiders" has become a major campaign flashpoint.

The BJP has repeatedly flagged abnormal voter growth in border districts of West Bengal as evidence of illegal immigration, which the SIR aimed to purge. This has triggered widespread fear even among many legitimate Indian citizens, particularly in the Assembly seats bordering Bangladesh.

The political messaging from both sides over citizenship and illegal immigrants has caused panic among Bengal voters working outside the state, triggering the scramble back home.

The impact of the mad rush of migrants to West Bengal is being felt by households across Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru among other cities. This also reveals how the professional ecosystem of big cities is dependent on the unorganised workforce.

NOT VOTING IN BENGAL MIGHT IMPACT CITIZENSHIP, FEARS KHURJA WORKER

Podda, the house help based in East Delhi's Dallupura, says, "If nothing works out, my family and accompanying extended family are ready to travel to Gangarampur in Dakshin Dinajpur in cramped general bogies", which reports say are running overloaded, much like during Bihar's Chhath festival.

"Some among those we spoke to also fear that they might no longer remain beneficiaries of state-funded schemes like Lakshmir Bhandar and Kanyashree," Podda tells India Today Digital.

Rahul, a ceramic industry worker in Ceramic City Khurja (in Uttar Pradesh) tells India Today Digital that he "has no choice but to go back home for around 20 days, leaving his work behind".

"If I don't go and cast my vote, I fear my name could be removed from the voter list. It might even affect my citizenship," West Bengal native Rahul tells India Today Digital, adding, while migrants like him usually go home only during festivals Durga Puja, "But this time, after the SIR exercise, it has made going back almost compulsory".

The over 250 ceramic manufacturing units in UP's Khurja rely heavily on workers from West Bengal. With workers leaving in droves, almost all ceramic factories in Khurja are set to shut down for nearly 20 days, an industry insider, who didn't want to be named, tells India Today Digital.

SHORTAGE OF HOUSE HELPS IN DELHI NCR, JAIPUR; SLOTS FROZEN IN ONLINE SERVICES

Nimai Maisal, a native of West Bengal who works in Bengaluru, says voting has been a "ritual" for many of his relatives who live and work outside the state, but now there's a fear attached to not voting.

"We make it a point to return home for every election. But, in the wake of the SIR exercise, the trip has taken on an added urgency, as we want to ensure our name remains on the rolls and the voting record stays intact," Maisal, a domestic help, tells India Today Digital.

The panic isn't just among the migrant workers. Working professionals are panicking too.

Queries and discussions about a shortage and crunch of house help, nannies and cooks have flooded social media, with many highlighting the disruption it is causing. Subreddits of cities like Mumbai, Noida, Gurugram, Delhi and others are filled with such posts.

A Gurugram-based Reddit user, "superzzgirl", asked on the city's subreddit, "What's the scene with maids? Why are all on leave? We have three maids and all are going to the village."

A Jaipur-based person, "CarpetIntrepid2721", wrote, "Even my house help has gone to Bengal".

The reverse flow has also impacted house help services offered by online platforms. A Noida-based marketing executive, who relies on such apps for household chores, told India Today Digital that he was "unable to find same-day booking slots now, unlike earlier, when help was available within a few hours of booking".

The Gurugram-based Reddit user, "superzzgirl", said, "I checked Pronto, Snabbit and Urban Company, and none of them have any slots for the entire week".

HOW BENGAL ELECTION HAS HIT MUMBAI'S ZAVERI BAZAAR

The rush to vote has also hit businesses in Mumbai's Zaveri Bazaar, where artisans are mostly from West Bengal, Mustafa Shaikh reported for India Today TV. He reported that the cluster, which is the hub for retail gold and diamond jewellery manufacturing, was "witnessing a huge reverse migration due to the West Bengal Assembly elections".

Kalidas Sinha Roy, general secretary of the Bengal Swarna Shilp Kalyan Sangh, said around 60% of the artisans had already left Mumbai, with more expected to leave closer to the voting days. "There are around 1.5 lakh artisans in this area. After the SIR, there is a strong urge among artisans to vote in this election," Sinha Roy told India Today TV.

Jewellery manufacturer Ikramul Haque Shaikh said the situation comes amid an LPG cylinder shortage, making it harder for owners to sustain operations. "Around 40 artisans work for me across multiple units. Half of them have left. More are likely to leave soon. Buses are being arranged due to a shortage of trains. SIR is a key factor driving workers to insist on voting in West Bengal this time," Shaikh said.

For most of these domestic helps and blue-collared workers — many of whom work in unorganised sectors across megacities and industrial clusters — the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election is about being seen and counted. They fear that not voting might get them stripped of social security schemes and even citizenship. And to ensure that they stay on the rolls, they are willing to risk wages, jobs, and long journeys to hold on to their proof of belonging.

- Ends

(With inputs from Anand Singh, Meenal Sharma and Mustafa Shaikh)

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