THE NARENDRA MODI GOVERNMENT spared no effort to ensure that United States President Donald Trump’s massive ego was massaged thoroughly during his visit to India. The massive crowds that it had promised at the cricket ground in Motera, Ahmedabad, may not have materialised, but the U.S.President was satisfied with the numbers that showed up. He told his supporters while addressing a political rally back home in the first week of March that he had never seen audiences as humongous as the one arranged by the Modi government in Ahmedabad. “It was a very special visit, unforgettable and extraordinary,” he said.
In New Delhi, the government went overboard in its welcome for the President and his entourage, though the communal conflagration in Delhi took the sheen off Trump’s visit. While there was heavy police deployment in central Delhi to provide security for VVIP visitors, mobs were on the rampage on the capital’s outskirts. On the final day of Trump’s high-profile visit, the international and domestic media were talking of the Indian government’s failure to check the violence. Asked at a press conference in New Delhi about the communal violence, Trump gave Modi a clean chit. He said that the Prime Minister had assured him that he “wants people to have religious freedom” and that the Indian government “had worked really hard at it”. He told the media that he had not discussed cases of individual violence in the capital with Modi.
This story is from the March 27, 2020 edition of FRONTLINE.
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This story is from the March 27, 2020 edition of FRONTLINE.
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How Not To Handle An Epidemic
The lockdowns were meant to buy time to put in place appropriate health measures and contain the coronavirus’ spread, but they have failed to achieve the objective and heaped immense misery on the marginalised sections of society. India is still in the exponential phase of the COVID-19 infection and community transmission is a reality that the government refuses to accept.
Tragedy on foot
As the COVID-19-induced lockdown cuts the ground beneath their feet in Tamil Nadu, thousands of migrant workers are trudging along the highway to the relative safety of their upcountry homes.
Sarpanchs as game changers
Odisha manages to keep COVID-19 well under control because of the strong participation of panchayati raj institutions and the community at the grass-roots level under the leadership of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Scapegoating China
As the COVID-19 death rate spikes and the economy tanks in the United States, Donald Trump and his advisers target China and the World Health Organisation with an eye to winning the forthcoming presidential election.
New worries
Kerala’s measured approach to the pandemic and lockdown has yielded results. But it still has to grapple with their huge economic impact on its economy, which it feels the Centre’s special financial relief package does little to alleviate.
No love lost for labour
Taking advantage of the lockdown and the inability of workers to organise protests, many State governments introduce sweeping changes to labour laws to the detriment of workers on the pretext of reviving production and boosting the economy.
Capital's Malthusian moment
In a world that needs substantial reorienting of production and distribution, Indian capital is resorting to a militant form of moribund neoliberalism to overcome its current crisis. In this pursuit of profit, it is ready and willing to throw into mortal peril millions whom it adjudicates as not worth their means—an admixture of social Darwinism born of capital’s avarice and brutalism spawned by Hindutva. .
Understanding migration
When governments and their plans are found to be blatantly wanting in addressing reverse migration, exercises such as the Ekta Parishad’s survey of migrant workers throughout India can be useful to work out creative long-lasting solutions.
Waiting for Jabalpur moment
The Supreme Court’s role in ensuring executive accountability during the ongoing lockdown leaves much to be desired. Standing in shining contrast is the record of some High Courts.
An empty package
The Modi regime, which has been unable to control the COVID-19 infection, restore economic activity and provide relief to millions exposed to starvation, trains its sights on Indian democracy, making use of the panic generated by fear and a lockdown that forecloses paths of resistance.
