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Opinion: Stop Saying #MeTooMigrant, You Are Mocking Migrant Workers Plight
India, 10 May 2020 11:13 AM GMT | Updated 10 May 2020 2:18 PM GMT
Editor : Prateek Gautam |
A free soul who believes that journalism, apart from politics, should stand for social cause and the environment.
Writer : Navya Singh
Navya writes and speaks about matters that often do not come out or doesn’t see daylight. Defense and economy of the country is of special interest to her and a lot of her content revolves around that.
Trending on twitter, #MeTooMigrant turned out to be the most self-centered and insensitive hashtag curate by the privileged to associate with those who do not have basic resources necessary for survival.
At a time when the migrant workers and labourers in the country are helpless and desperate to go back to their homes, many have decided to walk back to their native states after being stranded in other states for months now.
Many migrants lost their lives in road accidents, many were crushed to death by train and trucks, while others succumbed to the long tedious journey on foot. In a bid to extend support to the vulnerable, the privileged have ended up mocking the migrants' adversity.
Trending on twitter, #MeTooMigrant turned out to be the most self-centered and insensitive hashtag curated by the privileged to associate with those who do not have basic resources necessary for survival.
Something that began as a symbol of support, turned into a hashtag that belittles the struggles of the dispossessed and the helpless after it used its 'legitimacy' from the literal meaning of the term 'migrant'.
Elite and fortunate people with a stable source of income, roof over their heads and easy access to three meals a day ended up comparing themselves to those who walked thousands of kilometres without food and water to reach back homes when the nation is under a lockdown.
Several people took to Twitter to share their 'stories' about how they too, are migrants as they shifted from one metropolitan city to another, thereby invalidating the struggles of the lesser privileged and the poor.
I am a migrant too. I left Lucknow long back for college in Delhi and have been here since. Your story? #MeTooMigrant https://t.co/UqVuEg3Zcv
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) May 9, 2020
I am a migrant too. I left Chandigarh more than a decade ago and moved to Delhi and have been here since and forever. Your story? #MeTooMigrant https://t.co/SGNlUTj4rP
— Gaurav Pandhi (@GauravPandhi) May 9, 2020
The dehumanizing hashtag received a lot of criticism after people blindly shared it, thereby, bringing in self-importance at a time when all of us need to come out in support of those who are suffering.
Mr Modi is from Gujarat in Delhi
— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) May 9, 2020
Shah Rukh Khan is in Mumbai from Delhi
Dr Shashi Tharoor is from Kerala in Delhi
Kirti Azad is from Bihar in Delhi
Arnab Goswami is from Assam in Mumbai
We are all migrants. #MeTooMigrant
I left Chennai in 1998 for college, then went abroad & returned to Delhi in 2002, and have been here ever since. I'm NOT a migrant. I'm privileged & fortunate. Nothing abt me is remotely like migrants who suffer today. Shame on those making it about themselves. #MigrantsNotYou
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) May 9, 2020
I like the #MeTooMigrant tweets sent from people's sofas, between their fab champagne photos, chocolate cakes and coffees loaded with cream. This is a very valuable contribution to deep satire and it should be appreciated for that. #MigrantLabourers
— Dr Srijana Mitra Das (@srijanapiya17) May 9, 2020
What's worse is, so many of these people trending #MeTooMigrant
— Vaishnavi Vasudevan (@vaishnavi_1001) May 9, 2020
are journalists. 🙄
It's ridiculous how the privileged are saying they are migrants too just because they moved from one city to another. STOP INSULTING The POORSo, all the privileged class people who have migrated to a place and live in their big houses are comparing themselves to migrants who either die of hunger or they kill themselves because of poverty. Waah re privelged people. Yahaan bhi hijack kar liya. #MeTooMigrant
— Aayush Sharma 🏳️🌈 (@JournalistWFH) May 9, 2020
Elite idiots' #MeTooMigrant campaign is disgusting. Can you ever understand the life of poor workers who are dying like flies because of an Idiot PM's dumbest policies?
— Rebela Sharma (@Rebel33433094) May 9, 2020
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