Parghari (Banka), Bihar

Arvind Kumar Sah was barely 15 years old when he first went to Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir, about 2,200 kilometres from his home in Parghari village of Bihar.

There was nothing unusual about a young teenager from this village in Barahat Block, Banka district to travel such a distance to a ‘disturbed’ area in search of work. His fellow villagers have been doing it as they went to Kashmir to work as daily wagers, halwai, helpers at shops, etc., for nearly three decades. 

Arvind was working in Srinagar for nearly 15 years, as a gol gappa vendor. But on the evening of October 16, the 30-year-old, was gunned down in Idgah Park in Srinagar. His death sent shock waves to his village two thousand kilometres away, where fear has gripped the families of other migrant workers. 

As per news reports at least 40 civilians have been killed by the militants in Kashmir in the last two months, with many of them being migrant workers like Arvind. 

Post Arvind’s killing, several migrant workers have returned or are on their way home from Kashmir. The brutal killing of October 16 has severed the close ties that Parghari village in Bihar had nurtured with Kashmir for decades, say the villagers. 

“Apna pet paalne ke liye gareeb mazdoor log Kashmir jaate hain [Poor people go to Kashmir to work in order to feed themselves and their families]. Everyone is scared. While several migrant workers have returned, many are still stranded in Jammu and are desperate to come home,” said an agitated Roshan Kumar Sah, a cousin to Arvind, who had come to attend his eleventh day ceremony, when Gaon Connection met him on October 26. 

“On one hand the government is unable to give us work, on the other hand it is not able to protect our lives. Poor people take a huge risk by going to Kashmir to find work to feed their families and raise their kids,” added Roshan.

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What happened on October 16

“Arvind and I used to share the same room in Srinagar where both of us worked as gol gappa sellers. That day [October 16] Arvind went to Idgah Park to sell gol gappe while I entered some other mohalla in Srinagar,” Mantu Kumar Sah, elder brother of Arvind, told Gaon Connection. 

“At around five-thirty in the evening, we the heard news that a gol gappa vendor had been gunned down. I kept calling Arvind but there was no reply on his mobile [phone]. After half an hour or so, someone received the call on his phone and we were told Arvind was in hospital and in a serious condition. By the time we reached the hospital, around six-thirty, Arvind was already dead,” narrated a visibly-shaken Mantu, who brought Arvind’s body home. 

According to him, never before had any such incident happened. None of the migrant daily wage workers felt unsafe. They always earned handsomely in Kashmir, and hence kept returning there to work. That is why about two-and-a-half-months ago, for the first time, Mantu too had accompanied Arvind to Srinagar to earn a living. 

“At Srinagar, we used to earn twenty to twenty-five thousand a month by selling gol gappe. This kind of earning we cannot make anywhere else,” said Mantu. “Hum log ab berozgaar ho gaye. Koi naukri bhi nahi hai hamare paas [we have become unemployed. We have no job],” he lamented. But, he vowed,  “Nahi, wapis nahi jayenge [No, I will not go back]”.

“Here, we cannot earn more than three-four hundred rupees a day but in Kashmir, we can easily earn six hundred rupees every day. Sometimes we also earned thousand to twelve hundred rupees,” said Mantu.  “That is why poor people from the village go to Kashmir with the hope that by working there for some years, they can save enough money for their family and children. But now everyone is scared,” he added.

“From our village alone, at least 200-250 people, including kids, go to Kashmir to work along with their families,” said Manju Devi, Arvind’s sister-in-law. “My husband also worked there for several years. Some two-three years after marriage, he found some mithai work locally and started to work in Banka,” Manju added. 

Married sixteen years ago, Manju was widowed about three months back when her husband Babloo Sah died of corona. She has four children – two daughters and two sons – to raise.

No land, no livelihood

For 75-year-old Devendra Sah and his wife Sunaina Devi it has been horrible. The couple, who had five sons and a daughter, lost two sons in the past three months. 

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“My eldest son died due to corona, and now Arvind Sah, my fourth son, is dead too. For Arvind’s killing, the government has offered us two lakh rupees. Ek kutta bhi marta hai to usko do lakh rupaiya milta hai [even when a dog gets killed, a compensation of two lakh is offered],” said Devendra. “We are a large family of ten-fifteen people. How will I feed the kids and grandkids,” he worried. 

The grief-stricken father complained that the family had received no support from the government after their elder son’s death in the second wave. “The doctor even refused to touch my elder son who died while we were getting him admitted to the hospital,” he said.

According to Devendra, most farmers in his village were small and marginal cultivators with large families, hence it was not possible to depend on the agriculture. 

“I have 15 katha land [60.5 katha makes up one acre of land] and five sons, so you can imagine how much share comes to each son! The land is only namesake. We have to do labour work and feed the family. 

“Arvind would send money home and we could run our household,” Sunaina Devi, mother of Arvind Sah, told Gaon Connection. “We were planning to get Arvind married next year in March,” the mother added.

According to Mantu Kumar, “A number of workers have returned from Kashmir but they are refusing to speak with the media because the workers fear that when they go back to Kashmir to work again, they will be killed for speaking to the media.”

Revocation of Article 370 

Dablu Kumar Sah, another brother of the deceased Arvind, also worked for many years as a halwai in Srinagar. Dablu returned from Kashmir over two years ago after Article 370 was revoked, and J&K lost its special status. 

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“My husband had taken a mithai shop on rent in Srinagar for many years. After my marriage [nine years ago], I also joined him there. Arvind used to live with us. It is only after the dhaara [Article 370] was removed that an atmosphere of fear was created and we returned to our village but Arvind continued to work there to support the family” Shivani Sah, wife of Dablu, told Gaon Connection. 

“My husband easily earned twenty to twenty five thousands rupees a month in Kashmir. Since the time we have returned to Banka, he has taken another halwai shop at rent in Sahibgunj but there is almost no earning and we have three kids to raise,” said Shivani.

“Pehle kabhi darr nahi tha par dhaara tootne ke baad darr ho gaya tha [earlier we never felt scared but after revocation of Article 370, there was fear]. People felt that Biharis will buy land in Kashmir and this had created an atmosphere of fear and we thought it was safer to return home with our kids,” said Shivani, who has two daughters and a son.

On being asked if after Arvind’s death will they allow anyone from the family to go and work in Kashmir, Shivani said: “Lagta to nahi hai [I don’t think so]”.