Price of the Modi Years

by Aakar Patel

on the night of 24 March, a part of the population found itself stranded with no work, few resources and no means of reaching safety. The total lockdown made no exceptions and all public transport was shut down. Millions of workers and their families began walking to their villages. Many starved, many died. Many who walked on the highways were harassed and bullied by the police. Some walked on the railway tracks to avoid harassment and were run over. The State had shown zero responsibility towards these millions. Avoiding accountability, the Modi government lied to the Supreme Court, saying there were no migrant workers on the road even while media reports daily showed images of the masses walking home.111 The court in turn let Indians down by denying these workers their wages