The relentless campaign by the government to pressure all shopkeepers into getting the Covid-19 vaccine on pain of closing down their shops is being publicly questioned by dozens of petty traders of Iew Pynursla.
A petition voicing their concerns, fears, insecurities and warnings of possible starvation due to forcibly stopping their livelihoods is likely to be taken to the courts.
These vaccine-hesitant shopkeepers and hawkers are puzzled as to why the government is so keen to get them vaccinated, even going door-to-door to encourage them to do so when no government official ever bothered to ask them how they were coping during the lockdown in the face of massive disruption brought on by the pandemic.
These were some of the issues people brought up before social activist and president of the Civil Society Women’s Organisation, Agnes Kharshiing, who visited Iew Pynursla today after receiving letters from many “nongshong Iew” (traders) who had been forced to close down their shops by the district administration on July 16 for failing to get vaccinated.
It was sheer coincidence that Kharshiing’s team bumped into the district administration’s team with a posse of policemen led by a magistrate. The magistrate was telling a woman selling fruits that she, without vaccination, would not be allowed to open her shop. Even as the magistrate gave her a lecture, Kharshiing told the shopkeeper, “Don’t be afraid. If you have problems with what this magistrate is telling you, tell us. We know that what they are doing is not as per the law, they cannot stop you from earning a livelihood.”
Kharshiing told Highland Post that she in no way was interfering with the government’s work, but was only bringing to light that as long as Parliament or the state does not pass a law making vaccination or Covid-19 tests mandatory, people have a right to refuse it for whatever reason. She was accompanied by her team mates, Amita Sangma, local activist Bikonia Sutnga and some lawyers.
“The government cannot hold their livelihood to ransom,” the CSWO president emphasized. There are several High Court rulings saying that forcefully or pressuring people to vaccinate is against their fundamental rights, she pointed out.
As the two opposing teams roamed the marketplace, each with their own message, dozens of traders, mostly women, who had had their shops closed down met Kharshiing handing over letters asking her to help them against the government’s orders.
Speaking to HP, Sarpailin Khongjee said that she feared that today she would have to go empty-handed because of the DC’s orders. Asked why she did not want to take the Covid-19 jab, she said “I’m not saying I will not take it, I’m only saying I will not take it now because I’m not ready for it.”
For those not willing to get vaccinated, there is the option of taking a Covid test every 10 days. However, Khongjee was reluctant towards this as well as, according to her, there is no reason to take a test if she is not sick.
Another trader, Joyana Lyngdoh Mawphlang, said that if people feel that something is wrong with them then they would go to their doctor. “But when we’re perfectly fine, why go for tests?” she wondered.
Another trader, who runs a small cloth shop, B Mawrie said, “We come to the market for our daily rice. These people who are asking us to close our shops are doing this only because they get a salary. If they force us to close, we will not earn money to buy our food.”
She said that she is ready to go to jail rather than take the vaccine.
“If they close my shop like this, they should pay my daily wages. These government people have no respect for us or our feelings. They treat us like low-class people, they have no care for our pains or troubles we face. It’s very easy for them to say vaccinate or we will close your shop or do your test and we will open your shop, this is unacceptable,” Mawrie added.
Kharshiing’s team included a lawyer who has taken note of the many grievances and these are likely to form part of a petition seeking judicial intervention into the matter.
