Modi’s lockdown follows a pattern of sudden and drastic policy changes he has brought in during his tenure that have come to be popularly termed ‘masterstrokes’ or ‘surgical strikes’. These ‘masterstrokes’ are a form of what Naomi Klein calls shock therapy i.e. a program of using shock and crisis to impose sweeping changes to society.
Illustration by Satwik Gade Modi’s latest ‘masterstroke’ has left many wondering what exactly he was thinking when he put India into the world’s largest lockdown overnight. Unlike other countries that have had to formulate emergency responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, Modi made no effort to implement phased social distancing policies and failed to even mention whether essential goods and services would remain available before imposing the lockdown, sending the world’s second largest population spinning into absolute panic and chaos. Modi also offered no economic relief before announcing the lockdown even though over 90% of India’s economy is constituted by a vast and variegated informal sector. This has left the large majority of India’s population literally out on the streets. Instead of making sure people would stay home, India’s lockdown has been forcing masses of migrant laborers to travel miles on foot to reach their homes and to congregate in shops…
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