Why 2021 could potentially increase the political disturbance in India as well as around the world?

The novel coronavirus gave 2020, the year of the most unprecedented changes, a new political turn across the globe. In some places, countries saw massive political uprising while some witnessed political downturns. The Covid-19 shutdown could not let politics come to a standstill as dissent found a louder voice than what had been heard before. The debates, arguments, and clashes in terms of ideology turned more bitter than ever before.

2020 in India began with wide spread protests as people took to streets against the divisive Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens. The protests led to troublesome acts of vandalism and ended in bloodshed in the capital of the country Delhi. The protests continued even when the coronavirus entered the nation’s domestic boundaries. However, later the protestors at shaheen bagh were displaced citing medical precautions and the nationwide lockdown was imposed.

Soon, the way the government was dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic invited chiding and birthed division in the polity once again. The ruling NDA government and the opposition continued with the blame game and deliberations were conducted on various budgeting decisions, monetary policies, and the stimulus packages announced by the centre.

This was not all. The Chinese aggression at the line of actual control (LAC) invited another round of political action and triggered a heated debate. The centre took stringent economic actions on China such as banning Chinese apps and reducing the imports from china.

After all this, India entered its election mode. From Maharashtra political disturbances to Bihar elections. The country could sense the political divide among parties and the greed for power.

The tragic rape incident in Hathras had been severely moving for every single individual of the country. It brought forth the sentiments of sympathy, anger, and outrage.

There were also several laws passed during this time that took the centre stage. Yes, you guessed it right. They are labelled as the so-called “love jihad” laws and the three “farm laws” that trigged people across the country. The cases against Yogi Adityanath’s anti-conversion law are to be heard real soon by the supreme court while the protests against the farm laws and the debates on the same still take over the headlines.

Thus, as the year was on its terminating stage, thousands of people were brought back on the streets again, protesting for their rights and the withdrawal of another new law passed by the central government.

Interestingly, we can say, we ended 2020 at exactly how we started it- “PROTESTING”. A full circle of life or rather we can say, Indian politics.

And with 2020 starting and ending on a stormy note, we might expect 2021 to be no different or perhaps even worse.

There is a lot from 2020 that will affect how the politics in 2021 take shape.

The first and foremost factor being the deadlock over the farm laws. The protesting farmers across the country are still agitated and whether these protests will affect the working of other sectors and will they be able to actually force the Modi government to roll back the new laws. The new “never seen before Budget”, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quotes it, might also bring new social and economic anxieties in the countrymen that had been bottled up under the pandemic curbs.

This year, the assembly elections are due in the southern India ( in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry) and in the eastern India (in West Bengal and Assam) with each one of them having a high degree of national significance. Not to forget, the West Bengal Assembly election could bring important indications. The elections shall reveal the people’s response to how well did their elected government handled the situation of crisis, whether at the centre or in states. The election results will hold enough power to determine the future of the ruling as well as opposition parties and could kick up new controversies. Further into the second half of this new year, the Uttar Pradesh battle is expected to get louder and more frenzied. Elections in Tamil Nadu will be highly breath-taking as the state would contest elections without M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, the two politically dominant figures, for the very first time in decades. Kerala elections will primarily test the Congress’ potent along with being a test for the BJP. The centre ruling party headed by Narendra Modi is expecting results from its decision on the Sabarimala temple entry issue, but fortunately or unfortunately it has not yet received the dividends it anticipated from the move.

The coming elections are a major chance for the ruling BJP as it has already faced major setbacks in the electoral outcomes in Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Jharkhand, and Bihar since its stupendous win in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. All these results indicated and hinted towards a certain pushback against the party and reducing support from the people at the provincial level. With the problem a rebalancing of power within the Gandhi-family-led Congress, the fate of the party shall be inextricably linked to the political fate of Rahul Gandhi.

Coming back to the protests, it is not new that the ruling parties dispense the blames by forwarding the blame to the Opposition parties for igniting these protests by spreading misinformation or by any other unethical means. But this time, the protests have somehow managed to sustain themselves even when there was not any support from the Opposition political parties.

2020 has also seen an astounding rise in the usage of internet and web-based services, whether it is about reading news online or expressing their dissent. As we all know, the #BlackLivesMatter movement also emerged from a social media post and gained enough momentum to displace the political atmosphere of not only the united states but also several other countries around the globe. The movement was widespread to such a level that corporates got involved and Hindustan unilever even dropped the word “fair” from its beauty product “fair and lovely”. The cream is now renamed as “glow and lovely.”

This indicates that the global spread of any information or movement and impromptu mobilization of communities and groups is now no more in control of authorities or government. All thanks to the mobile phones and social media that give collective power to the people to express their frustration and more of this is likely to be seen everywhere in the new world.

Needless to say, 2021 is going to be a crucial year for the Bhartiya Janata Party after all that it has done throughout all these years in power— abrogation of Article 370, creation of Ram Temple, decision on the triple talaq law, declaration of the CAA and NRC, and finally the new farm laws.  The BJP led government has also been accused of not putting enough emphasis over the downward slide of the economy, which had recorded declining growth rate in multiple quarters even before the coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns shook the economy.

Taking the glance to world politics, 2021 can be imperative for the rebalancing of global power as President Joe Biden is likely to unveil a new style of presidentship, altering the US stance on a range of global issues such as climate change, international trade, and even the friction in the US-China trade war. The latter most concern will perhaps influence not only the united states and china but also countries around the world, including India.

But above all these issues, one issue that will command the dominant stance and attract popular global attention in 2021 is the “Vaccine against COVID-19”. It could potentially trigger a political disturbance and the matters in relations to its access and costs will be of prime importance triggering intense politicking during the coming clutch of elections.

The novel coronavirus gave 2020, the year of the most unprecedented changes, a new political turn across the globe. In some places, countries saw massive political uprising while some witnessed political downturns. The Covid-19 shutdown could not let politics come to a standstill as dissent found a louder voice than what had been heard before. The debates, arguments, and clashes in terms of ideology turned more bitter than ever before.

2020 in India began with wide spread protests as people took to streets against the divisive Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens. The protests led to troublesome acts of vandalism and ended in bloodshed in the capital of the country Delhi. The protests continued even when the coronavirus entered the nation’s domestic boundaries. However, later the protestors at shaheen bagh were displaced citing medical precautions and the nationwide lockdown was imposed.

Soon, the way the government was dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic invited chiding and birthed division in the polity once again. The ruling NDA government and the opposition continued with the blame game and deliberations were conducted on various budgeting decisions, monetary policies, and the stimulus packages announced by the centre.

This was not all. The Chinese aggression at the line of actual control (LAC) invited another round of political action and triggered a heated debate. The centre took stringent economic actions on China such as banning Chinese apps and reducing the imports from china.

After all this, India entered its election mode. From Maharashtra political disturbances to Bihar elections. The country could sense the political divide among parties and the greed for power.

The tragic rape incident in Hathras had been severely moving for every single individual of the country. It brought forth the sentiments of sympathy, anger, and outrage.

There were also several laws passed during this time that took the centre stage. Yes, you guessed it right. They are labelled as the so-called “love jihad” laws and the three “farm laws” that trigged people across the country. The cases against Yogi Adityanath’s anti-conversion law are to be heard real soon by the supreme court while the protests against the farm laws and the debates on the same still take over the headlines.

Thus, as the year was on its terminating stage, thousands of people were brought back on the streets again, protesting for their rights and the withdrawal of another new law passed by the central government.

Interestingly, we can say, we ended 2020 at exactly how we started it- “PROTESTING”. A full circle of life or rather we can say, Indian politics.

And with 2020 starting and ending on a stormy note, we might expect 2021 to be no different or perhaps even worse.

There is a lot from 2020 that will affect how the politics in 2021 take shape.

The first and foremost factor being the deadlock over the farm laws. The protesting farmers across the country are still agitated and whether these protests will affect the working of other sectors and will they be able to actually force the Modi government to roll back the new laws. The new “never seen before Budget”, as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman quotes it, might also bring new social and economic anxieties in the countrymen that had been bottled up under the pandemic curbs.

This year, the assembly elections are due in the southern India ( in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry) and in the eastern India (in West Bengal and Assam) with each one of them having a high degree of national significance. Not to forget, the West Bengal Assembly election could bring important indications. The elections shall reveal the people’s response to how well did their elected government handled the situation of crisis, whether at the centre or in states. The election results will hold enough power to determine the future of the ruling as well as opposition parties and could kick up new controversies. Further into the second half of this new year, the Uttar Pradesh battle is expected to get louder and more frenzied. Elections in Tamil Nadu will be highly breath-taking as the state would contest elections without M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa, the two politically dominant figures, for the very first time in decades. Kerala elections will primarily test the Congress’ potent along with being a test for the BJP. The centre ruling party headed by Narendra Modi is expecting results from its decision on the Sabarimala temple entry issue, but fortunately or unfortunately it has not yet received the dividends it anticipated from the move.

The coming elections are a major chance for the ruling BJP as it has already faced major setbacks in the electoral outcomes in Haryana, Maharashtra, Delhi, Jharkhand, and Bihar since its stupendous win in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. All these results indicated and hinted towards a certain pushback against the party and reducing support from the people at the provincial level. With the problem a rebalancing of power within the Gandhi-family-led Congress, the fate of the party shall be inextricably linked to the political fate of Rahul Gandhi.

Coming back to the protests, it is not new that the ruling parties dispense the blames by forwarding the blame to the Opposition parties for igniting these protests by spreading misinformation or by any other unethical means. But this time, the protests have somehow managed to sustain themselves even when there was not any support from the Opposition political parties.

2020 has also seen an astounding rise in the usage of internet and web-based services, whether it is about reading news online or expressing their dissent. As we all know, the #BlackLivesMatter movement also emerged from a social media post and gained enough momentum to displace the political atmosphere of not only the united states but also several other countries around the globe. The movement was widespread to such a level that corporates got involved and Hindustan unilever even dropped the word “fair” from its beauty product “fair and lovely”. The cream is now renamed as “glow and lovely.”

This indicates that the global spread of any information or movement and impromptu mobilization of communities and groups is now no more in control of authorities or government. All thanks to the mobile phones and social media that give collective power to the people to express their frustration and more of this is likely to be seen everywhere in the new world.

Needless to say, 2021 is going to be a crucial year for the Bhartiya Janata Party after all that it has done throughout all these years in power— abrogation of Article 370, creation of Ram Temple, decision on the triple talaq law, declaration of the CAA and NRC, and finally the new farm laws.  The BJP led government has also been accused of not putting enough emphasis over the downward slide of the economy, which had recorded declining growth rate in multiple quarters even before the coronavirus and the subsequent lockdowns shook the economy.

Taking the glance to world politics, 2021 can be imperative for the rebalancing of global power as President Joe Biden is likely to unveil a new style of presidentship, altering the US stance on a range of global issues such as climate change, international trade, and even the friction in the US-China trade war. The latter most concern will perhaps influence not only the united states and china but also countries around the world, including India.

But above all these issues, one issue that will command the dominant stance and attract popular global attention in 2021 is the “Vaccine against COVID-19”. It could potentially trigger a political disturbance and the matters in relations to its access and costs will be of prime importance triggering intense politicking during the coming clutch of elections.