Chaos, uneasy peace: 2020, a year of protests and politics amid Covid-19

Communal riots broke out in Delhi in February amid protests against the new citizenship amendment law, killing 53 people, mostly Muslims. The law designed to offer a fast track to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants sparked widespread fear that it could lead to the disenfranchisement of Muslims.

A nationwide farmer protest hit the country in December against new farm laws designed to pave the way for contract farming and create a free market for agricultural produce. Farmers fear the move will end the minimum support price, which guarantees them a certain minimum price for their produce.

In July, a crisis unfolded in Rajasthan when Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot broke ranks with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and staged a rebellion. This sparked speculation that he had joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party to topple the state government. It ended in a truce, however, after a meeting with Rahul Gandhi.

The tension reached a boiling point in June when an Indian patrolling party along the border was ambushed and brutally attacked with spikes and irons rods by Chinese forces, killing 20 soldiers. An uneasy peace in the freezing Himalayan heights continues.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a grand show of his friendship with US President Donald Trump during the latter’s maiden visit to India in February. The trip was high on optics. A roadshow was organised in Ahmedabad where a 125,000-strong crowd gathered to welcome the two leaders. At the end of the visit, India signed a deal to purchase $3billion worth of US military helicopters.

There were just 33 sittings in 2020, including 23 in the budget session and 10 in the monsoon session. The winter session was cancelled altogether, while the budget session in March was cut by nearly 10 days. An already truncated monsoon session in September was reduced by eight days. The last time it met for fewer than 50 days was in 2008, when the count was 46.

The loss was felt across the aisle. He had earned the title of the indispensable man of India’s coalition-era politics for his ability to build consensus on contentious issues and was widely seen as a bipartisan stalwart of Indian politics. In his final address as President in 2017, he had said that he received “much more” from the country than he had given.

People of Delhi left no room for ambiguity in their choice for their elected leader. The Aam Aadmi Party won 62 of the 70 seats in the state Assembly. The Bharatiya Janata Party won the rest, whereas the Congress failed to win any.

The BJP returned with a tally of 74 in the state Assembly, while its alliance partner Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) managed to win only 43. Despite his less-than-stellar show, Kumar became the chief minister once again.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir in Ayodhya. The Bharatiya Janata Party made a grand event of the temple construction despite a raging pandemic, inviting criticism from many.