Come election time, the trials and tribulations of the large number of Gulf expatriates working in six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries take centre stage in Telangana and parties go overboard to shower promises to fulfil their grievances.
In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, principal parties are vying with each other to catch the attention of the 15-lakh Gulf expatriates hailing from predominantly seven districts of the State. While many of them can be termed as ‘absentee voters’ because of their inability to return home to exercise their franchise, what has caught the attention of the Congress, the BRS and the BJP is the ‘influence’ these expatriates wield on their family members.
Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Adilabad, Peddapalli, Zaheerabad and Warangal districts in North Telangana send the maximum number of skilled and unskilled labour to the United Arab Emirates not to speak of lakhs of people from Old City of Hyderabad working there. At least 32 Assembly segments in Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Karimnagar, Nirmal, Peddapalli, Rajanna Sircilla, Jagtial, Medak, Siddipet and Warangal districts have Gulf migrants and all these fall under seven Lok Sabha constituencies.
A conservative estimate says that as many as 88-lakh expatriates from India are working in GCC countries and Asian countries, including Malaysia.
According to Mandha Bheem Reddy, founder of Emigrants Welfare Forum and presently the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee NRI Cell convener, an overwhelming number of these workers hail from North Telangana districts and contribute significantly to India’s foreign exchange reserves.
Battling scores of issues while working in foreign countries, these Gulf migrants have requested the Centre and the respective State governments to ensure social security to them. They pointed out that while the Pravasi Bharatiya Bima Yojana entails ₹10-lakh accident insurance to victims and their families, it should be extended to natural deaths too.
Convener of the TPCC NRI Cell and former diplomat T. M. Vinod Kumar mooted a comprehensive social security scheme with insurance and pension for Indian migrant workers employed in the Gulf. “There is a strong need to formulate a reintegration and resettlement scheme for expatriates who return home,” he felt.
Eyeing the Gulf migrant votes, the parties are holding meetings with associations and trying to woo them to back the respective political parties. Forum for Protection of Rights and Welfare of NRIs Convener Kotapati Narasimha Naidu of Nizamabad district pointed out that a cursory look at the voting pattern of Gulf migrant families would reveal how important this section is to the parties.
In the 2014 general elections when the State of Telangana was created, this section of voters backed the Telangana Rashtra Samiti believing the promises made by party chief K. Chandrashekhar Rao and their leaders of helping the Gulf expatriates. The BRS (then TRS) had promised ₹500 crore for welfare of migrants.
In the 2019 general elections, aggrieved migrants, who had returned to India and their families looked towards the BJP and voted in their favour. “The victory of BJP candidates in Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Adilabad Lok Sabha constituencies clearly showed that the Gulf migrants played a key role in influencing the outcome of the results,” Mr. Narasimha Naidu said.
In particular, the leaders working for the rights and welfare of the migrants point out that in the Nizamabad Lok Sabha constituency, the failure of the BRS government to fulfil its promises for Gulf workers was among the key factors that led to the defeat of its candidate Kalvakuntla Kavitha, daughter of then CM KCR along with the Turmeric Board issue.
Sensing that the Gulf migrants and their families are a potential section that could be of immense help, the Congress party leaders are going all out. Earlier this month the TPCC NRI Cell managed to bring under one umbrella 60 associations working for the welfare of Gulf expatriates and hold an interaction meeting with Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy.
The outcome of the meeting pleased the Congress leaders no end. The party, according to sources has mapped the much-needed vote bank. They have categorised Gulf migrant voters into three categories. First, the migrants themselves, who could number one lakh in the seven constituencies but are unable to come and vote. So, they have decided to reveal their preference to the family members.
Congress hopes that each migrant worker can influence at least two family members to vote for their preferred candidate. Then there is a section of migrant workers, who have returned to their native places over a period of last one decade, they also account for few lakhs. Still some of their family members are working abroad.
So, the parties feel that unless this particular section is tapped, the prospects of any candidate will be dicey. The Congress party is banking heavily on the promise made by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy that a Gulf and Other Overseas Workers Welfare Board would be established in Jyothirao Phule Praja Bhavan by appointing a senior IAS officer to look after the affairs.
