‘Mobs were hunting for people from Bihar, UP’

AHMEDABAD: The Sabarmati Express chugged slowly into Lucknow’s Charbagh station. It was past Monday midnight and most passengers were groggy from sleep and tiredness. But not Raj Kumar Nishad. Memories of the house he left behind in Vadodara had kept him awake.
The train from Gujarat brought with it to Lucknow hundreds of migrant labourers from UP who had for many years made the western state their home.Most had stories of sadness in their heart, some had tales of horror. Almost everybody had visions of insecurity.
‘Mobs were looking for us’
Sitting on the floor in the general compartment, Nishad, who has to reach Rae Bareli, was still shaken. “I was punished for no fault of mine," he said, tears suddenly flooding his eyes. "I lived with my wife and two children, one 10 and the other 12, in Vadodara. After the attacks began, mobs of men started patrolling the lanes and by lanes of the city, looking for people from UP and Bihar. I first had to stop my kids from going to school. On Saturday, my factory in-charge announced that migrant workers should leave the state and wait for the situation to normalize. I came back home, packed my bags and ran."
Sonu Kumar, 19, said even cops these days advise workers from outside to return home. “If those who are supposed to protect us ask us to flee, it’s hopeless,” he said. “I had complained to the local police about the threats I was receiving. I was beaten up once. But they said they were helpless. I don’t know what I will do in my UP village as I had gone to Gujarat because there was nothing for me here.”
Far away in Bihar, Suresh Sahni, who has to get down at Khagaria, said he had booked train tickets for November 10 to celebrate Chhath. “But what’s there to feel happy about now, ’’ he asked. “I have no job, no salary. I took the first train I got to Patna.”