A collapsed tunnel and a bulldozed hut
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The mayor of Hamelin promised the Pied Piper a reward of one thousand guilds if he freed the town from rats. However, upon his return after successfully exterminating all the rats with the help of his flute, he was met with a breach of promise and humiliation. Legend has it that he avenged this betrayal by luring away all the children of the town.
Now, let's transition from the story of the rat catcher to the life of the rat hole miner. As part of the Char Dham project implemented by the BJP government at the Center to facilitate travel to four Hindu pilgrimage centres, a tunnel was being constructed at Silkyara in Uttarakhand, which collapsed, leaving 41 workers trapped inside. This emergency, occurring on November 12, 2023, took the entire country by surprise. Disaster rescue experts utilized all available techniques to free the trapped workers. As a last-ditch effort, 12 rat hole mining workers from UP and Delhi were entrusted with the task when all efforts, using sophisticated equipment imported from abroad, failed. Even the black rocks and steel bars in the tunnel must have felt that they would melt in front of the goodness of those people who risked their own lives to save the lives of others. They brought the workers alive to the outside world after being stuck on the thread bridge between life and death with no hope of reaching their loved ones again for 17 days. The rat hole miners, who saved the lives and families of the 41 workers and gave hope to 140 crore people, did not ask for a reward for this priceless work. They stated that there was no reward needed for saving the lives of their brothers. Many demanded that these men be honoured with bravery awards. They had told the media persons who hailed them as heroes of the country and came to take an interview that all this publicity and praise would be short-lived. When asked about their wishes, their answers were a safe and secure house and a life with equality without discrimination of caste and religion.
For those dinner-starved men from Dalit-backward Muslim communities, it was a pipe dream. On the completion of three months of the rescue mission, the Delhi Development Authority has given a 'reward' by demolishing the house of Vakeel Hasan in Khajoori Khas, who led the team. The house is alleged to have been built on encroached land, the same justification given for the overnight demolition of the six-century-old Akhunji Mosque in Mehrauli. Munna Qureshi from the rescue team and Vakeel Hasan's son were beaten up in the police station for protesting against the demolition of the house; the children's exams were stopped, and the government inflicted indelible wounds on the man and his family who healed the country's wounds. The authorities maintain that they did not know that the house was the house of the rescuer in Uttarakhand when the news of the house being razed to the ground hit the media. Last December, the Indian Parliament passed a bill not to demolish illegal colonies in Delhi for three years. At that time, the ministers had said that such a law was being brought to avoid the situation where houses are demolished, and people are dumped on the highway. What criteria make Vakeel Hasan ineligible for such protection? Even if we concede for the sake of argument that the house is built on encroached land, what kind of security threat does that house pose to a poor-populated colony that it is demolished without warning? Will the authorities take the same stance with all the powerful individuals and political parties that have been hoarding property and government bungalows for years? Who can deny that the administration ensures reservation for minorities only when they are displaced, framed in false cases, and shot dead?
Fishermen in Kerala also had to face the same fate. When the entire state was overwhelmed by floods, the men who came to help the people without hesitation and earned the nickname 'Kerala's army' were demonized for claiming that the capitalist monopoly construction of the port was destroying the sea and the coast. The authorities are convinced that they will not retaliate, as the Piper of Hamelin did. Even if there is another emergency (may it not occur), such heroes will jump to save their fellow humans without regard for their own lives. Let us not forget that each of us will be in the pit of ungratefulness unless the country steps out to speak out against the blatant injustice they are facing.
