Electoral roll revision in Bihar and Marathi imposition in Maharashtra have a common thread: Migrant workers

George, Anisha (2025) Electoral roll revision in Bihar and Marathi imposition in Maharashtra have a common thread: Migrant workers. The Indian Express.

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Abstract

The present political moment in India is another demonstration of the now routine politics of alienation and exclusion. On the one hand, the Election Commission has announced a revision of the voter list in Bihar, requiring elaborate paperwork that effectively stands to exclude millions of poor migrant workers spread across the country. On the other hand, multiple parties have made a great show over the language issue in Maharashtra — many migrants have recently been beaten up for not speaking Marathi — whose primary target lies in the vilification of poor immigrant workers. This is a growing trend across southern states where the opposition to Hindi imposition by the Centre has been countered by the imposition of state languages on precarious “outsiders”. Such disenfranchisement of the mobile poor at both origin and destination states in India is a threat to their basic citizenship rights.

Item Type:	Newspaper Article
Authors:	George, Anisha
Document Language:	Language English
Subjects:	Social sciences > Social problems & services
Divisions:	Azim Premji University - Bengaluru > School of Arts and Sciences
Full Text Status:	Restricted
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	http://publications.azimpremjiuniversity.edu.in/id/eprint/6265
Publisher URL:

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