Arindam Sen

In early May, Baljeet Asthana was recording a video message -- an open letter in audio-visual format -- standing outside the upscale Fortis Hospital, where her 82-year-old mother was slowly dying. Because there was no intensive care unit bed available in the hospital, in fact in no hospital in Delhi.

(Part II)

The pandemonic scenario in our country -- indeed on our planet -- is stubbornly refusing to move out of dangerous territory.

Part I

8 August, 2020. A piece of good news greeted Indians in the midst of a morbid milieu marked by growing Corona cases and fatalities and a  palpable economic paralysis. Indian tycoon Mukesh Ambani is at the moment world's fourth richest person.

WITH the initiation of the actual construction of Ram Mandir on the ruins of the Babri Masjid, and that on the first anniversary of the imposition of the longest – and still continuing – period of brutalization of the lone Muslim majority state in India, the temple town on the bank of Sarayu has been given a fresh coat of political saffron.

It’s really a sad irony of history. We shall be observing the forthcoming Independence Day -- for the seventh year in a row -- under the auspices of those who were avowed enemies of our freedom movement and all the progressive, democratic and secular values it stood for.

Yes, avowed enemies. Just see how the ideological-political forefathers of the present rulers – and the organisations they represented -- conducted themselves during the decisive decades of our struggle for independence.

WHEN the whole of India was put under lock and key in late March, we had only 564 known cases of Novel Coronavirus infection. By the middle of May, we earned the dubious distinction of defeating eternal competitor China (which had nearly 83000 cases) at least in this field. On May 19 the tally crossed the 100000 mark and is all set to rise rapidly for quite some time.

WHEN the whole of India was put under lock and key in late March, we had only 564 known cases of Novel Coronavirus infection. By the middle of May, we earned the dubious distinction of defeating eternal competitor China (which had nearly 83000 cases) at least in this field. On May 19 the tally crossed the 100000 mark and is all set to rise rapidly for quite some time.

IN the first part of this article we traced the genesis of the movement and discussed its most distinctive demands and slogans. In this concluding part, let us talk about its salient features, key achievements and long term perspective before taking up the question as to how the movement must be carried forward in the changed situation marked by the Delhi pogrom and the Corona pandemic.