Concern over xenophobia in Kerala: NGO

The recent death of a migrant worker from Chhattisgarh, Ram Narayan Baghel, 31, following the attack by a mob in Palakkad points to xenophobic trends in Kerala, the Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development (CMID) has observed.

As per statistics collated by the CMID, a Kochi-based NGO working towards the welfare of migrants, at least one mob lynching has been reported in Kerala since 2023. The CMID data say that Ashok Das, 24, from Arunachal Pradesh, was killed in Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district in 2023; and Rajesh Manjhi, 36, from Bihar, was killed in Malappuram in 2024.

Before 2023, Manik Roy, 34, of West Bengal, was killed in a mob attack in Kollam in 2018, which was two years after the alleged mob lynching of Kailas Jyoti Borah, 29, of Assam in Kottayam in 2016. In almost all cases, the victims were accused of suspected thefts.

“These are just cases in which the victims died. There are several cases in which the migrant worker survives like the case in October this year when a migrant worker from Assam was allegedly assaulted by both a mob and the police after his employer framed him in a theft case. In another case, one of our outreach staff, also a migrant, in Perumbavur was assaulted for capturing the video of people assaulting another migrant on charge of theft. His mobile was forcibly taken away and thrown into a drain,” said Benoy Peter, executive director, CMID.

Ironically, Ram Narayan was allegedly beaten up accusing him of being from Bangladesh. “The anxiety that migrants would gradually become dominant in their destination countries is being stoked by right wing politics globally,” said Mr. Peter.