MIGRANT MESSIAH

In 2014 the BJP Government, in the first year of its rule in India, declared December 25 as Good Governance Day and made it a working day for government employees. Why didn’t the government declare it as a National Migrant Day? This would have been in sync with the birth of Jesus whose parents Mary and Joseph had to flee with him from their country to Egypt to escape a massacre. They became migrant refugees. Their son Jesus became the Migrant Messiah.

Last year, in a Christmas message via Twitter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, American politician and activist, told her followers to remember that ‘Christ’s family were refugees too’. She drew parallels between the plight of the Holy Family – Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the immigrants from Central America. She said that those fleeing their own countries to settle in the United States are in a similar situation as that of Jesus and are to be treated with justice and compassion. They need to be given access to benefits, regardless of citizenship status.

In India, between 1948 and 1971, there were large scale migrations from Bangladesh to Assam. This influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) was on account of political turmoil and civil unrest. Even after the end of civil war and formation of Bangladesh, migration continued, though illegally. To identify illegal immigrants, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was prepared for the first time in Assam in 1951. The Final NRC in Assam published on August 31, 2019 has created a cause of concern because it has excluded 1.9 million people, mostly poor, from its draft list.

The wars in Syria and Afghanistan, and the economic deprivation in Africa have rendered millions of people migrants. The Rohingya minority in Myanmar has been oppressed and dispersed. Many of them seek a better future in the developed countries of Europe. Such massive immigration has led to a bitter backlash as nations seek to put up fences and walls to curb migration.

Migrants are to be shown empathy, acceptance and solidarity. Their value and human potential are to be recognised. The United Nations proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day for the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members of their families.  The Church has been celebrating World Day of Migrants on September 29 since 1914 to increase awareness about the opportunities that migration offers and to express concern for the vulnerable people on the move.

Pope Francis, whose papacy has been marked by solicitude for the poor and respect for the sanctity of life, has consistently denounced in his homilies and writings, the mistreatment of migrants.  He has decried the perilous, degrading and intolerable conditions of the migrants and urged countries to honour their humanity.

The Holy Family (Jesus, Mary and Joseph), whom we remember in December, fits the contemporary situation of refugees and migrants. Migrants are to be treated with justice and compassion because Jesus asks us to. In Matthew 25, Jesus reminds us to “Welcome the Stranger” because in doing so, we welcome Jesus himself. We should have compassion and be ready to care for modern day refugees and migrants who are our brothers and sisters and are urgently in need of our help.