TO be a Muslim is to be an orphan or the “other” in new India. Since 2014, there have been systematic attacks on the identity of the country’s largest minority community. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied its members the ticket to contest elections, and in States such as Karnataka, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, the name of every sixth Muslim has been deleted from the electoral rolls. Add to this the Centre’s decision to turn Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority State, into a Union Territory, and the picture of marginalisation of Muslims is complete. Since 2014, the community has been silenced. Muslims have been browbeaten into accepting the Muslim women'sRepresentation of marriage act and even the renaming of cities that had names associated with the community. But now there is resistance, not by some dubious cleric or shrewd politician trying to fish in troubled waters but by veiled Muslim women.
The women—homemakers, school-teachers, college lecturers and professors, the old and the young— have emerged as the strongest rallying point in the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR). The site of their protest, Shaheen Bagh in south-east Delhi, has attracted international attention. The venue is just a few minutes’ walk from Jamia Millia Islamia, the Central University campus that saw the Delhi Police force their way into the library, hostel and other areas and fire tear gas shells on December 15, 2019. With their peaceful and relentless dharna, the women have given hope and courage to the men to carry on the fight another day.
Esta historia es de la edición January 31, 2020 de 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.
