A few weeks ago, I found myself mildly agitated over a shared Facebook status message. It had a Bengali animal-lover venting her anger against the reported mass-culling of dogs in Kerala. The culling was said to have been ordered by the state government to tackle rising stray dog menace.
What annoyed and amused me was not her anger itself, but the nasty racist terms she used to express her indignation -- referring to the “dark-skinned Malayalees’ dark hearts”, as evidenced in our treatment of the strays.
I questioned the need for such vitriol in an otherwise appreciable concern for mute beings. Several Malayalees (including my relatives and friends), Bengalis and others understandably “liked” it when I raised that question. Some Malayalees even chose to pay her back in the same coin.
Today, I am inclined to look inward.
For a long time now, among us Malayalees, animosity towards Bengalis has been simmering. It is palpable.
Our primary grouse seems to stem from the presence of an increasing number of them in Kerala. This calls for a bird’s eye view of the situation. According to 2013 figures, our state has around 25 lakh domestic migrant labourers -- growing at an average of 630 persons per day. This is ironically more than the 16 lakh Malayalees who have famously moved to the Arabian Gulf and beyond over the past many decades.
The largest group of domestic migrants seems to be from Bengal, most of them toiling away in almost every known field -- construction, eateries, masonry and even jewellery designing.
Paddy fields that have for ages been worked on by the next-door farmhand now have Bengali tillers. The neighbourhood coconut tree climber, who once endearingly plucked tender-coconuts for us along with the harvest, is nowhere to be seen. He has been replaced by someone who speaks a strange language, finds it rather difficult to follow instructions, but is diligent and hardworking.
So, when we non-resident Keralites go home on our annual vacations, chances are that we would be served by a boy who is yet to differentiate between a "ney-roast" and a masala dosa.
Racked by poverty and helplessness back home, for the Bengali, the salubrious environs and high income make Kerala his own "Gulf".
For many of us, especially the Gulf Malayalees, his presence is disconcerting though.
This is breeding resentment. Indicative of this resentment is the profusion of “Bengali labourer in Kerala” memes on social media. Almost all of them choose to highlight the Bengali’s supposed astounding ineptitude. Never mind that this may be in complete variance with reality.
This hypocricy conveniently neglects glaring facts:
The Bengali labourer has only filled the gaps left by Malayalees who chose to migrate.
The Bengali is as industrious, hardworking and diligent (or alternatively, inept) as any of us.
Malayalees themselves have been victims of such resentment in other places. The most infamous examples being Maharashtra under Bal Thackeray’s exceptional "guidance", Tamizhnad and other parts of north India.
Though the farcical resentment is yet to peak, we are getting there. For long, we have accused other communities of being intolerant. We were then the victims. Today, we are beginning to demonstrate the same attributes. It is perhaps only a matter of time before we nurture our own Thackerays.
Unless we pull ourselves back from the brink of course.
But till then, in terms of honesty, that Bengali lady who abused us “dark-skinned” Malayalees will remain a notch above those of us who camouflage our vileness with seemingly harmless Facebook memes.
