Kamal Haasan Warns “Balcony Government” Of “Time Bomb” Said The Central Government Should Address The Problems Faced By Migrant Workers

Chennai: Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Tuesday took a swipe at the central government over the problems faced by migrant workers in the country as seen in the demonstration in Mumbai earlier in the day, saying the crisis was a “time bomb” and that the “balcony government” should keep an eye on the ground.
More than 1,000 migrant workers, who live on daily wages and have been stranded in Mumbai with no income for the last three weeks, gathered in Mumbai’s Bandra on Tuesday demanding transport facilities to go back to their hometown, hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the coronavirus lockdown to May 3.

Mr Haasan, flagging the need to address the problems of such migrant workers, had earlier sarcastically remarked that the centre should not remain a “balcony government”, alluding to the relatively better off citizens who buy premium seats at movie theatres.

“All the balcony people take a long and hard look at the ground. First it was Delhi, now Mumbai,” the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief said, in an apparent reference to the migration of labourers in Delhi in large numbers earlier during the lockdown.

“The migrant crisis is a time bomb that must be defused before it becomes a crisis bigger than Corona. Balcony government must keep their eyes on what”s happening on the ground too,” he said on his Twitter handle.

The gathering in suburban Bandra in Mumbai earlier in the day, in violation of lockdown norms, raised concerns about the worsening of the coronavirus crisis in the city that has already emerged as one of the country’s biggest hotspots. The police had resorted to mild force to disperse the crowd.

The lockdown that was announced abruptly last month had triggered a major crisis for crores of people living on daily incomes in various parts of the country, leaving many without food or shelter. Thousands of migrant workers undertook journeys on foot to try and return to their hometowns for fear of starvation.