A section of migrant workers in Kerala demanded on Monday the food inspectors test the meals being provided by the administration, strengthening a suspicion within the government that some groups are fomenting unrest among them.
The workers said they cannot have Kerala food and wanted rotis instead of rice. The state government has made it clear that it can provide vegetarian food to any number of migrants.
Hundreds of migrant workers from “Bhai Colony” in Perumbavoor in Ernakulam protested on the street with buckets of rice and curry provided from a community kitchen on Monday.
The new demand came a day after workers from Bengal hit the streets at Paippad in Changanassery in large numbers demanding they be taken back home.
Kerala police arrested a worker named Mohammed Rinju and booked cases against 2,000 identifiable workers who participated in a protest by migrants, mostly from Bengal, on Sunday.
The investigation team led by inspector-general of police Mahesh Kumar Kaliraj had conducted searches at the accommodation of the workers who protested and found 21 mobile phones suspected to have been used to circulate messages calling for protests.
Sources said the video and audio messages in Bengali and Hindi instigated workers to protest if they wanted to go home. The sources also pointed to the quick mobilisation, saying it could not have happened without coordination.
The workers in Perumbavoor, the biggest hub of migrant workers in Kerala, were among those who were briefed on Sunday soon after the Paippad incident with the aim of avoiding another protest and illegal gathering.
The two incidents came amid widespread suspicion that the workers were being used by some fringe groups that wanted to create disorder in the state that has otherwise done well in handling the coronavirus crisis.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan later said the Paippad incident was part of a conspiracy. “More than one group tried to trigger the unrest in Paippad. The role of some crooked minds who are trying tarnish the progress we have made in managing the coronavirus crisis can be seen here,” Vijayan said during his daily media briefing on Monday.
He said 5,178 labour camps had been readied to accommodate the migrant workers during this crisis. “We have decided to give them food,” he said.
After the Paippad incident, the government deployed home guards who can speak Hindi to interact with the migrant workers and communicate their complaints to the authorities.
He urged officials to provide food items that the migrant workers prefer.
State finance minister Thomas Isaac told a Malayalam news channel on Monday that he knew who was behind the protests and hinted at “a fringe group” without naming it.
At “Bhai Colony” in Permbavoor, one of the workers told reporters on Monday: “We need quality food. We need (food) inspector to test this food.”
On Sunday, the government had clarified that some of the migrants were being provided with raw materials since they did not want Kerala food.
The protest started before Ernakulam collector S. Suhas was scheduled to visit the area as part of a larger programme to educate the migrant workers about the lockdown and the services made available to them.
When he reached there, the collector made it clear they wouldn’t be able to go anywhere at the moment because of the nationwide lockdown.
That was followed by a visit by state agriculture minister V.S. Sunil Kumar who explained that the government was in a position to feed any number of migrant workers.
“We can provide food to any number of workers. But under no circumstance would they be allowed to leave these camps since that is the order from the Centre and the state governments,” Sunil Kumar told reporters after addressing the workers.
“This protest happened shortly after lunch time. We know a lot of them are getting misguided,” he said, asked if there was a conspiracy behind the development.
The minister made it clear that the state would provide only vegetarian food as part of the relief measures.
“The migrant workers have different food habits and some of them want non-vegetarian food. But let me make it clear that only vegetarian food will be provided,” he added.