State was unmoved, people mobilised

To most people of India, the year gone by underscored as never before the insensitivity of the Indian State and its isolation and distance from ordinary Indians. As in other countries, in India too, it was the Covid-19 pandemic that dominated 2020. The coronavirus has infected nearly 10.3 million Indians so far and claimed the lives of over 149,000 people. While our doctors, nurses and health workers swiftly rose to the occasion and worked 24/7 to treat patients, even at risk to their own lives, governments at the Centre and the states failed the people on multiple fronts, some choosing to spread superstition in the crucial early weeks of the pandemic or dealing with citizens and issues in an authoritarian manner.

An unplanned nationwide lockdown left millions of migrant workers in the cities without shelter, hungry and jobless overnight. It triggered a massive reverse migration to rural India and unleashed suffering on an unprecedented level. The State remained unmoved through it all. And through 2020 continued the relentless assault on minorities and the marginalised. It prompted people to mobilise in large numbers against the Modi government’s harsh policies and laws. If in early 2020, it was the nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, at the end of the year, thousands of farmers are sitting in protest near Delhi, braving the harsh winter. Overall, 2020 will be remembered as a year that saw India plunge into despair and anger, but also one that saw people begin to mobilise on a range of anti-people policies.

It is on a sombre note that India has ushered in the New Year. There is palpable anxiety over what 2021 holds. In 2020, the State slept for the most part while people struggled. Will our elected representatives wake up in the New Year to lead India’s fightback to recover lost ground in the country’s long battle against hunger, illiteracy, unemployment, malnutrition and exploitation?

A new beginning is necessary, and possible. It will require our leaders to shift away from policies that exploit and exclude. A focus on public health rather than the health of the stock market is necessary. A reaffirmation of commitment to the founding principles of our Constitution should be a priority. The political class needs to put people at the centre of policies. But the battle for a better tomorrow cannot be left to the State alone to wage. It requires us, urban and educated Indians, to speak up on behalf of the marginalised and those whose voices have been silenced.